Tourist Attractions in Aveiro

History

In Roman times the town, then known as Talabriga, lay directly on the sea. In the course of time, however, alluvium brought down by the Rio Vouga built up a spit of land off the coast, leaving only a narrow channel to the sea, the Barra. The town thus acquired one of the most sheltered harbors on the west coast of the peninsula, and enjoyed a period of high prosperity in the 15th and 16th C. as a result of the voyages of discovery which set out from here. The town still preserves many fine old buildings dating from this period.

In 1575 a violent storm devastated the town and closed its outlet to the sea. The harbor was now landlocked and useless, and all attempts to reopen the passage to the sea were unsuccessful; the fishermen, deprived of their livelihood, migrated in the 18th C. to the new port of Vila Real de Santo António at the mouth of the Guadiana, founded by Pombal. A further storm in 1808 opened up the old channel to the sea, and this is now protected from silting-up by dikes and weirs. Aveiro harbor now ranks once again among the finest harbors in Portugal.

Townscape

Aveiro is often compared with Amsterdam or Venice, despite having only three canals, but the many medieval features it has managed to preserve do make it very attractive. This is due in no small measure to the barcos moliceiros and a canal trip on one of these boats shows Aveiro at its most appealing. On such a trip visitors can see some magnificent Art Nouveau buildings and house fronts decorated with beautiful azulejos (particularly attractive are the tiles in the railroad station).