Seeing, Doing and Staying
The Casa do Mercado is a two-story two bedroom historical house right in the middle of Aveiro’s old quarter, and you’ll have it all to yourself. It’s listed through Booking.com where we nabbed it for €117 a night.
It’s a five minute drive to the beach at Costa Nova do Prado. You can also get there by bus or even by boat via the lagoon and canals.
Candy striped fishermen houses– and lots of them, painted in cherry red, summer yellow and sailor blue stripes.
You’d expect a postcard perfect place like this to be overtaken by tacky tourism and stripped of its authenticity, but Aveiro’s Costa Nova still very much belongs to the locals. Not overly manicured for the tourists, even a little dogeared; neighbours hang out in their front yards, hanging laundry, fixing their
fishing rods or exchanging gossip, as if completely unaware that meanwhile on the internet, we’re drooling over their charming little homes.
Out on the jetty, watch the local spear fishermen catch their dinner before heading back to your little Venice in time for sunset…
Eating and Drinking
Find the little pink house squeezed in between the others on Rua de Joao Mendonca. Café A Barrica makes a special dessert, only found in Aveiro called Ovos Moles. According to locals, “to visit Aveiro without tasting Ovos Moles is a sin.” They come from the ancient women’s convents in Aveiro, inspired by their closeness to the ocean, they’ve taken on the shapes of shells, fish and clams. A unique light pastry filled with a golden voluptuous dough, I won’t tell you what’s in these little parcels– you can look up the ingredients if you really want to cheat, but as we did, you should do yourself a service
and go into this one blind.
Wander around the streets behind the canals, watching locals go about their evening errands while chomping on Ovos Moles, but don’t forget to save some room for dinner…
O BAIRRO has cool decor, delicious little traditional plates, friendly staff and is close to your little yellow house, Casa do Mercado.
The older RESTAURANTE MARISQUEIRA MARE CHEIA and the newer CAIS DO PESCADO are battling for the title of best seafood in town.