Blogs from Aveiro, Central, Portugal, Europe

Bonjour à tous, Aujourd'hui dans mon programme j'ai été pas mal ambitieux au niveau de kilomètres. Ce soir je le paie comptant. J'avais dit hier que j'étais assez tenté de me rendre à Piodar, village de montagne. Au départ le gps m'indique 97km, et 1h47minutes. Les 50 premiers km je les fais en 30', compris la sortie de ville de Coimbra. Je remets en doute le temps annoncé par le gps, et j'ai bien tort. Pour ceux qui connaissent la Réunion, c'est comme ce rendre Cilaos, mais sur 50km, ou bien les routes Corses d'il y a 30-40 ans. J'en était presque à rêver de ces grandes lignes droites interminables du Kansas. En 2017 le Portugal a subit un incendie géant, près de 500 000 hectares sont partis en fumée, et 63 personnes y ont laissées ... read more

We took a day of rest from our frantic travels and went to visit Maria's cousins, Maria and Manuel. In a matter of minutes, an offer for lunch. Now, here I should make mention of Portuguese food. It is very good. It is also very much concerned with meat. Great slabs of meat, most likely fried and served with potatoes that are very often deep fried. On a day of abstinent prudence, one will eat great slabs of fish. For about a week it's a party of carnivourous gluttony washed down with fizzy glasses of vinho verde. Then, one morning, your entire being cries out for a salad, or a sprig of parsley if nothing else. So, back to the offer for lunch. I sat with an ear to the kitchen. All was silent for a ... read more

After the grand snooze, it was up and at 'em and on the road to Aveiro. This is another little fishing village that has lent itself to tourist pursuits. Aveiro is a city of canals and bridges, waters plied by colourful boats (barques) and home to salieneras. Salienaras are facilities where salt is extracted from ocean water and then turned into a vast variety of products, some for munching and some for scrubbing. Portuguese people have a great love of salt. It has been used since olden days to preserve cod and many varieties are produced for use on the table. There is the usual bleached white type, but also brown salts, salts flecked with black,grey salt and lovely coarse, chunky salts. When you begin to explore the world of salt, it can become something of ... read more

Até ao outro lado do mundo ou simplesmente até a um lado diferente, porque o outro não é necessariamente uma oposição porque isto no fundo, somos todos muito parecidos nas nossas diferenças. Enfim, três anos de preparação na mui pacata cidade de Braga para uma aventura no Império do Meio e quiça não seja atingida por um raio de luz vindo do país do Sol Nascente. Muito se tem passado desde a entrada para este curso e respectiva forma de encarar o país para onde vou passar um ano de cultura e língua. A China é certamente um país que está na ordem do dia de todos os comentários... medo ou expectativa, fascínios ou repulsões, toda a gente dá a sua opinião. Será que vou ter de andar tapada da cabeça aos pés, fugir da política ... read more

These are the pictures of the couple from dserbia who fell into the canal in Aveiro. ... read more