There are so many reasons why a road trip is a fantastic idea, and I’m convinced it’s the perfect way to tour Portugal. Jumping in and out of the car to visit lovely towns and villages, and don’t get me started on the incredible views along the shoreline.

Our loop of the country resumes, and we’re now heading south through central Portugal, along the west coast.

We spend time discovering Aveiro, a short hop to Costa Nova, and then we wind south along the Atlantic Ocean to Cascais.

If there’s water I’m happy, and what does Aveiro have? Canals, so I’m going to enjoy this.

Aveiro’s industry has historically been around the salt pans, although in 1575 due to a storm the town’s harbour became silted up and direct access to the sea wasn’t gained again until 1808.

Strolling around the Old Quarter of Aveiro is very easy, and with its narrow lanes and waterways, you’ll find yourself just following your nose instead of a map, and wander off around another little corner.

However, where I’m sure you will head to is the Central Canal, which wraps itself around the Jardim do Rossio.

You can’t help but automatically be drawn to the colourful moliceiro boats. These boats were used initially for harvesting seaweed for fertiliser (and some still are).

The vibrant boats are so eye-catching, and if you take a look at the front curved prow, some of the hand-painted images are a little bit saucy.

Before you head off to discover more of the town, hunt out the little cabin selling Ovos Moles.

These small local delicacies are bite-size sweets wrapped in rice paper, with a rich egg yolk and sugar filling mmmmm.

Another beautiful part of Portugal’s history is its ceramics, these are found all through the old quarter. Adorning buildings, balconies and pathways.

There is also such a lovely mix of styles from the intricate to the smooth Art Deco lines.

It would have been rude not to, so Gary took one for the team and sampled the local beer.

We’re now on our journey south, however, before we head on that trail, we couldn’t resist visiting Costa Nova to see the colourful palheiros.

Heading west directly towards the Atlantic Ocean we turn down into Aveiro Lagoon, just a short drive along and the charming candy-striped homes unravel out ahead of us.

Traditionally these buildings would have been used by the local fisherman for storage, however, nowadays they have become popular with tourists as holiday homes & who can blame them.

Back in our trusty steed and we’re on our way again, trying to stick to the coastal route as much as we can. Although we did drive along a very bumpy road through a partial forest which the car wasn’t too pleased about.

Our next stop was at Praia da Vieira, perhaps as it was the end of April things were a bit quiet and empty, but, that certainly didn’t detract from the fact, that the beach looked wonderful.

We couldn’t resist stopping again by the lighthouse at Marinha Grande. (Well I say “we”, if there’s a lighthouse to be seen, Gary needs to stop).

 
Surely that’s not another lighthouse in the distance, next stop was at Nazaré, the views here are incredible, high up on the cliff.

Then of course there’s the perfect sweeping sandy beach below.

As time was pressing and the weather slightly turning, we took a more direct route south until we were north of Sintra.  

Even though it was now beginning to rain, we could still see the Sintra palaces of Pena, Quinta da Regaleira, which we had visited the year before.

Nearly at Cascais, we picked up the coastline again to follow it around. The shoreline here was pretty impressive, crashing waves along the rugged rock face.

A bit late but we finally arrived, so we headed straight out before the heavens opened again.

What I do like about Portuguese towns are the lovely floor tiles that they lay, sweeping along the promenades and the squares.

Cascais has some lovely sandy bays if you fancied a dip; however, a little bit of sun was needed to entice people out.

After our evening stroll the weather had finally perked up; however, it certainly didn’t bring the crowds out.

Although we enjoyed our evening in Cascais, I wasn’t too disappointed that our time was limited.

Gary and I travel with open minds and will usually try and find traditional or local haunts in a place, however, in Cascais we struggled, for us, it didn’t quite have the charm we had hoped for.

The restaurant we chose for our evening in Aveiro was named ‘A Bateira’. It was a tiny little place on the corner of a lane, it had a very local feel and was run by two mature guys, one cooking, one serving and neither couldn’t speak English (which is what we love).

Gary chose the local speciality of ‘arroz de marisco’ (seafood rice casserole) & I had huge plate of pork loin.

We shared a jug of wine, and the total bill was €20.25 (unbelievably good value).

Stroll around the winding canals or jump into a colourful moliceiro to Costa Nova and see the candy-striped fisherman’s homes.

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