More from around Porto – Aviero, Douro Valley, and Arouca Geopark

I made the most of my last few days in Porto and ventured out to see some of the surrounding area. My first trip was a train ride south to Aviero, a small fishing town with a network of channels. It is known to be the “Venice of Portugal”, but this is a bit of an exaggeration. On the channels, colorfully painted boats called moliceiros, with scenes of local life shown on the bows, meander through town with tourists. In the past the boats were used to collect algae and seaweed that was used for fertilizer, but unfortunately, most of this has been replaced by chemical options. A similar design to the gondolas in Venice, but with motors, the bows are removable to allow the boats under some of the low bridges.

A moliceiro passing under the Carcavelos Bridge displaying the town crest

When I arrived at the train station, I saw a lonely girl at the information desk and stopped to ask for recommendations. Luckily, she was awesome and gave me a map, explained the top things to see, and set me up with a ticket for a ride on a moliceiro and a walking tour in the afternoon. I decided to start with the boat, as there was an entry point by the station so I could travel to the far end of town and back, getting an overview of the sights.

I boarded the boat with about 15 others, but I was the only native English speaker and my guide did not speak English. He asked one of the ladies sitting near me to try and translate, but this just go crazy, so I asked her to enjoy the ride and not worry about me. The guide was so sweet and gave me a picture book with a few English descriptions and tried to help me understand. On the way back, he offered a drop-off in the center of town, and to my surprise, I was the only one who chose to stay on and return to the start. I really wanted to walk on the bank and have a closer look at all we had passed! This was special as the guide took some pictures and made me laugh with his gesturing and silly personality.

During my walk, I wandered through the winding streets checking out the cool Nouveau architecture and the amazing, hand-painted tiles produced in the town when the ceramics factory was one of its big industries. After stopping for some lunch, I met up with walking tour. The guide explained more about the history and different types of architecture around the town as well as taking us for a visit in one of the churches. We also learned how the stone streets and courtyards all represent fishing, as it has always been the key industry in Aveiro. You’ll see in some of the photos below the fishing nets, sea horses, octopus, bubbles, etc. It was such a nice and relaxing afternoon.

My next journey was a trip to the Douro Valley, about 2-1/2 hours away. There were six of us on the tour and after we were all in the van we headed out. Our first stop was at the Casal do Loivos Viewpoint to see the views and stretch our legs on a pedestrian bridge over the Douro River. Beautiful!

Next on the agenda was a stop at the Santa Eufemia winery where we moved from a dry white wine all the way thorough to their rich port, along with some nice snacks. Afterwards, we carried on to the town of Pinhão where we took an hour long boat tour up the river to see many of the famous vineyards along the banks. By this time, we had all worked up an appetite, so we continued on to a beautiful old chateau where we had an amazing lunch, and of course tried some more wines!

After lunch, we finished the day with another great tasting at a quaint old cellar, before the drive back to Porto (we all snuck in a little siesta on the way!). When we got back to Porto, the family sitting across the table in the lunch pic invited me to join them for happy hour at a trendy rooftop bar, a perfect way to end the day!

For my last day, I happened to see a tour to Arouca Geopark which is focused on geodiversity and recognized by UNESCO as an educational/scientific area protecting the environment. It also had the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge (516 meters, 175 meters above the river bed), which was recently surpassed by a bridge in the Czech Republic in 2022. It also has a network of raised trails throughout the park, a waterfall, and a beautiful river running through it. When I saw the bridge, I couldn’t pass it up!

When I returned to town, I had one final push and walked down to the river for my last sunset. Since it was Saturday night there was a DJ, food trucks, and all sorts of fun at the park.