My Escapes Portugal Another Lovely Trip to Portugal! Aveiro Aveiro Day Trip Aveiro's Water Channels [...]

Aveiro's Water Channels and the Boats

Aveiro has been frequently labelled as "The Portuguese Venice", but I actually think it has an original identity. It's very different and the only parallel would be represented by the existence of water channels.

To me, Aveiro's narrow buildings and many shop houses even made me think of Amsterdam...

But Venice is generally used to draw a parallel. Still, I think they're incomparable...

Aveiro is smaller than the other two, architecturally totally different, it's has shorter and less complex water channels (only a handful), which are not quite indispensable for daily life.
The overwhelming majority of traffic is land-based in Aveiro.

Aveiro has several water channels. My eyes counted 4 main ones, but there are slightly more.

Essentially, there is one main channel running across the city, which is split into: Canal do Côjo, Canal Central, Canal de São Roque.
Some in the historic district, but Canal do Côjo particularly, ran across a rather modern-looking neighbourhood.

So, Aveiro is not like a water channel labyrinth. Unlike Venice, unlike Amsterdam...

Most traffic and, the only traffic that I saw was with the canoe-shaped motor boats that transported tourists up and down...

These boats are called "moliceiros". Each boat had unique paintwork on it.

These moliceiros are either metalic or made from wood. Most boats are saw were made of metal.

I strolled along the canals, but what I've found more intriguing were the beautiful old buildings in the historic centre.

Aveiro is beautiful and unique as it is. Don't compare it with Venice or Amsterdam.

It's has a unique magic that I adore. I got lost in the historic centre and my short day trip ended up consuming 5-6 hours. And I'm still yearning to get back some day!

I honestly loved the buildings - the architectural richness here is amazing. A small town like this boasts with tremendous "treasures" in this sense.

It wasn't at all the canals that were my favourites. It was the old buildings.

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