Aveiro, Coimbra and Peniche - Couchsurfing, oldest university in Portugal and jacuzzi

After our short visit to witness Sao Joao we were off to see the coastal city of Aveiro and enjoy our first couchsurfing experience in Portugal. On arriving in Aveiro we were met at the station by our host Mario, who was kind enough to take our bags with him to work and leave us to explore the city in the meantime, after giving us some rough directions about where to go.

We explored much of central Aveiro, strolling through the old centre, seeing the fish market and the traditional Moliceiros boats, which are colourful fishing boats that are now a popular tourist attraction, where people go on cruises around the numerous canals. The key feature of these boats being the funny images and captions painted on the boats, which are often a bit rude in their humour. The canals are a beautiful setting and have been said to have similarities to those in Venice.

 

Moliceiros canal boat

With the caption reading: Much bigger and thicker than mine at home

After we finished exploring most of the centre of Aveiro, we were then later picked up by Mario after he had finished work and went back to his place via the supermarket where he picked up a few things to make a meal for us that evening. 

When we arrived back we were shown around his house (formerly his grandparents) and it is filled with lots of cool pieces of artwork. We were shown up to our room where we had a comfy mattress on the floor. We were then introduced to a lovely snack food of fresh cheese and pumpkin jam on bread, which is something I would never have thought of combining, but it worked extremely well together. We then had a shower while he started to cook us all a meal. 

After the shower we saw Mario put the last finishing touches to his meal, adding a bottle of beer to the mix and his own homemade sauce/spice mixture to the pot (an interesting combination). After letting it simmer for a short while it was ready. 

We sat down to the most delicious meal we had eaten in Portugal so far; feijoada (beans and meat), served with boiled cabbage and rice. Neither of us could get enough of it, having seconds and mopping up the sauce and juices with bread. The way we ate is like we haven't eaten in a week!

After the meal we sat talking late into the night, partaking of some wine and local spirit, it was a fun night and we learned much about each other. Mario’s work involves 3D printing, which was really interesting, he showed us some of the things he was making from, printers that he himself had built; we even tried them on! 

Trying on Mario's 3D printed glasses

Mario is in charge of his own company and works ridiculous hours, seeming to go home only to eat and sleep. But he really seems to love his job, he just needs to remember to occasionally take it easy every once in a while!

Our next day in Aveiro he dropped us off at the beach and we strolled along the beach front, walking out to the lighthouse and back along the beach front stopping for ice cream and some creamy Portuguese sweets. In the evening this time we went around to one of Mario's friends house where we met a whole group of his friends and had another nice meal before heading out to Praça do Peixe (fish plaza) in the city centre to go to the many bars. It was a fun night with much drinking and dancing, culminating in Carmen driving Mario's car back to his house as Mario was too drunk to drive.

The following morning we got up late and were very sad to be saying goodbye to Mario as we had had such a great time. He asked if we wanted to stay another night, which we gladly would have if we hadn't already had accommodation booked at our next destination. We will try and keep in touch and hope to see him one day come visit us in England or Romania!

Posing for a picture with Mario just before we left

Our next stop was Coimbra, a city famous for its university (University of Coimbra), the oldest in Portugal. The university is situated on top of a hill and is an impressive site with nice views from the top over the town. Coimbra is a small city with lots of tiny cobbled streets and buildings with traditional architecture. We stayed in the heart of the city and were lucky enough to witness a live dancing and music performance from the courtyard right outside the guesthouse we were staying in. 

Traditional Portuguese dancing

A contender for the highlight of our stay in Coimbra was when we went to a little restaurant just outside the old centre of town, away from all the hustle and bustle of tourists, which we had found out about from the internet. Here they served the popular Leitao (Roasted suckling pig), a gorgeous dish of pig roasted in a pit whole and then cut up into pieces, served with crisps. The tender, juicy, flavour intense meat will just melt in your mouth. The owner of the restaurant was kind enough to give us a sampling of her homemade garnish as well, which worked really well with it too.

The delicious Leitao

The city of Peniche was our last stopping point through central Portugal before heading to Lisbon. We took the opportunity for a bit of rest and relaxation here, settling in at a nice campsite, with some great facilities (jacuzzi, swimming pool and gym), all for a ridiculously cheap price. 

Carmen relaxing in the jacuzzi

 Peniche is only a small place, without much to see or do unless you like water sports, in which case you are in heaven as there is a lot of surfing and other water based sports available due to the high winds that are around the peninsula. However, it is a very beautiful place to relax and enjoy the scenery and sunsets, and to just watch slow pace of life of the locals, many of which fish out on the cliff tops. It was a nice break and set us up well for our next stop in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon.

Sunset from Peniche peninsula

Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean