The lovely Aveiro, Portugal is the Venice of Portugal with its network of canals that originally facilitated the commerce of salt for the area. There are 4 canals — Canal do Côjo, Canal Central, Canal das Prâmides, and Canal de S. Roque. Ten companies now vie to provide narrated rides for tourists, making the canals an active, vibrant place. The rides cost about $12 per person and last approximately 1 hour. We enjoyed both watching the boats from our Airbnb room (gorgeous! Best one yet), walking along the water, and finally as a participant. The boat “drivers” keep things fun by interacting frequently with individuals on the other boats as well as people watching on the shore.
One view from our room looking back towards the center of townCanal traffic below our roomAlong the Central Canal, an old factory area that has been completely renovatedA bridge along the canal near the big open-air mall. It use to be covered in padlocks, but the cumulative weight damaged the bridge so people now show their love with ribbonsCafes along the canalA decorative bridge across the canalCanal boats moored along the central canal — most of the boats used for the tourist rides were of the size that use to be used to transport seaweed to sell to farmers for fertilizerA man-made lake at the end of the Canal do CôjoWhile the salt trade in Aveiro is much reduced, there are still salt beds being worked.
Some of the salt beds along one of the canalsSalt — mostly now sold as specialized salts to the public where it used to be sold commercially to preserve food
Peckish Travels 