Advertisement
Published: September 28th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Aveiro is known as the Venice of Portugal . True it has two canals . One the Grande Canal and the other a lesser one . That is where the similarity ends. The road to Aviero is littered with white salt pans . It is difficult not to understand what the primary industry is . Apart from fishing that is. It is also known quite rightly as Portugals capital of salt production.
We had read up on the history of the place and it sounded fairly interesting for a place to stop at for a short stay. As we entered the town we could see the motorhomers parked up. We drove around a roundabout, following Sallys instructions but took the wrong exit. We could still see the motorhomes but they were the other side of the canal with no visible way of getting to them apart from starting again at the roundabout. This time we got the right exit and found ourselves followin the road into town which in itself followed one side of the canal. Eventually after driving down some narrow streets avoiding the traffic and the pedestrians we found ourselves on the aire . It did not look
quite right. Yes there were a lot of motorhomers there and some must have slept overnight. It was near a canal so that was right too but the pictures we had seen showed a nicer area and this was quite shabby . The camperstop book also showed green and this was just a car park. It also showed the canal and this one was nowhere near it. And to boot we were under the railway bridge . It was a to hell with it moment . We thought we probably could find the right sosta but this one would have to do.
We walked up to the town and alongside the Grande Canal which was fairly quiet . We were accousted by an elderly gentleman who pushed a leaflet in our hands. Boat trip on a tradition barge to the fishermans quarter, to the old town and to the pyramidal salt heaps out at the Salines - 8 euros each and the trip would last 45 minutes. We had not made up our minds whether to go on a boat trip so thanked him and wandered off in search of shops and interesting buildings. Before we got far we
were accosted again. Same price, same trip, same times.
The boats are quite pretty little things. Not much like gondolas more workaday. Painted black with highly coloured paintings on their hulls . The paintings reminded me of canal boat paintings back home. As it was now hot we retreated to a cafe for our usual espresso and cake . This time a custardy sort of confection made from lots of eggs, milk and lemon flavourings. It is a hard life getting used to drinking coffee and eating cakes in the sun.
On our way back to Suzy we did ask one lady what time her boat left . Same trip, same price , same spiel but this time we would get a free gift if we used her boats. I guessed salt but we would have to wait an hour for the next boat as she was taking a group out before us. It was ever onward but before we got back to Suzy two young lads caught us up. Come on our boat - same old story . What we never found out was what time the boat went. There is nothing worse than paying your money,
sitting down and waiting to go. You wait and wait as they wait for more customers to arrive . I can see the economics but it is not our style to sit for half an hour doing nothing . Instead we made the most of taking in the sun, people watching and boat watching. I guess we saved 16 euros to spend somewhere else . That might buy dinner at our next port of call which was going to be stopping at an aire without any facilities and a date with Jesus .
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0395s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb