Day 40: Coimbra to Aveiro

March 17, 2024

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Our view this morning is across the river to the Monastery of Santa Clara. Last year we walked over there but found no way to look inside. But it's good as a backdrop for the photo.

We had a look to what might be the best way to Aveiro today. There was the Google based track we made at home, and then opinions thrown in this morning from cycle.travel and Osmand+. Each had a different take, and while we like cycle.travel's promise of paved roads only, it called for about 700 m of climbing. Google, on the other hand, gave the glib assessment "mostly flat". We decided to go with Google, until it became clear that Google was sometimes talking about most flat mud. We ended by leaning more to cycle.travel, but ended the day with 546m of climbing - not the end of our world, but noticeable.

Along the Mondego River at Coimbra. We think all the construction is for a water and sewer line. The railway used to run this far along, but now stops about 1/2 km ahead. Note the Camino sign. We are truly on the way to Santiago now.

This is the bank of Portugal building. The reason I could not spot the hotel sign on it yesterday is because it is not a hotel!

We had been dismayed by highway spaghetti at the south end of town last year, but here at the north end, we have found some as well.

However, there is a nice bike path for a decent distance out of town.

And we even spotted this 24165 Black Kite

Lots of local cyclists took advantage of the cycle ways here in the north of town.

This was a classical fork in the road, where we had to choose which track to trust. I was trying to line the shot up a bit better, but there was a car on my tail. There is always a car on my tail! (Dodie made the wild suggestion, as Scott has done too, that I could stop, get off the road, and take the shot. Hmmm.)

We ran into a small market at Cordinha. It did have one fresh fish seller, one dried fish, two small bakers, some veggies, and some bedding plants.

I was attracted by those strudels, but settled for a mille-feuille, to save space on the bike.

The were also running a bar, and as usual attracted all the old men.

The town was not a wreck, but also not fancy.

I began noticing flowers like these in yards today. It could be King Protea.

There seems to be various varieties about.

Dodie looked over at one point, and consulting the GPS could say "That's the Google route", indicating a mud track. We stuck where we were, on the nice road you see next.

And there was this 24166 European Greenfinch!

We began to see everywhere this strange contraption, which seems to have been for irrigation. There are also many of the round tanks, but without the contraption.

Dodie has been trying to spot a Buzzard, but we never see them except in the air. For this photo I was using the camera like a shotgun.

It did not feel like the ride today had a lot of drop dead gorgeous sections. But yes, here is one.

Bocage's Wall Lizard. This guy came by as we were stopped for lunch.

We passed by a bird on a wall, that was holding so still I thought it was a decoy. In fact it was a Homing pigeon.

A random local church. Look at the tile facing. Almost all houses in this area have at least some tile on the outside.

Our way in to Aveiro involved a long, unlovely, narrow road with moderate traffic volume but slow speeds. At some point the unlovely bit began to change, and soon we had sort of the same street and buildings, but it all felt nice. We had arrived in the old town. Our first bit the old town was Pombal Square, where we found the "The World Needs Nata" cafe. Nata, the egg/cream filling in the famous Portuguese tarte, is great, but I'm not sure of its ranking on the list of the world's needs. Top One Hundred?

The typical paver designs of old Aveira.

Aveira is known as the Venice of Portugal. It does have several canals, not to mention salt flats, and gondola style boats that give tours - about 15 euros each.

The town also has a signature pastry known as Ovos Moles (soft eggs). This has a white casing and a yellow creme filling, unless you get a chocolate coated one!

Ovos moles, are found in bakeries all around town.

The buildings of town are also lovely, with pastel colours and balconied designs.

Here are five views of some of those Aveira buildings:

Colourful socks are seen in many shops, like postcards. I did get a pair last year in Seville, and this year on the BC Ferry as we headed out. Dodie has to work hard to keep me from coming home with a pannier full of them!

This is a little inner harbour we had not discovered before.

This walking street yielded a sweet treat

Checking for doneness. Soon, squares of chocolate will be added to melt inside.

With squares of chocolate melted inside and cinnamon outside.

There are lots of restaurant filled squares, like this.

Here is the Vera Cruz church, from 1606. The blue tile panels on the front are quite modern (1935).

Our Lady of Presentation (not sure what that means, but they named the church after it.)

Walking back to the Galeria Suite Hotel, we note again the paver designs in the street. According to Grampies 2023 these are called calcadas. Calcadas are just generically sidewalks, but the designs are a special thing in Aveiro.

Here is a photo of our hotel and its street. We stayed at the same place and took the same shot last year, so it's a tradition!

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 1,950 km (1,211 miles)

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