the venice of portugal

Aveiro, the Venice of Portugal, should be on your 'places to visit in Portugal' list a 100%. If you have that kind of  a list. I've never been to Venice, so I can't say how true the comparison is (you can have boat rides in canals in both - so pretty true, aye?) but I can say that Aveiro is lovely. After a day trip a few weeks ago, I'm already planning on going back to explore the beaches and possibly some cemeteries and parks, too!

A boat tour is basically a must and if you're lucky you might get a good guide like we did. We were entertained with both serenades and lots of facts about Aveiro. You can see most of the city through the tour and find out about some points of interest you might've missed otherwise. Most of the boats also have strange little, sometimes questionable, illustrations that I only noticed once going through my photos. For example, one of them in the pictures above says "I don't want anymore chorizo." (?)

Me being me, all the museums and churches were something I really wanted to see, and we managed to see most - if not all - of them. If you've only got time for one, go for the Monastery of Jesus/Museu de Santa Joana. It's got so much information on Princess/Santa Joana, pretty monastery architecture, cool Portuguese history, and beautiful and interesting collections. Apart from the museum (and boat tour), my other favourites were ovos moles, other traditional biscuits, and all the sun. I'm looking forward to going back as soon as possible!

Tomorrow I'm off to the south of Portugal (hooray!), but have actually scheduled posts (very organized and unlike me!), so I hope you'll enjoy those as well. And I also hope you're having a good Easter break/holiday - if you are on one!