Nazaré to Aveiro in Portugal

It’s early May and we’re driving along the west coast from Nazaré to Aveiro in Portugal. This coastline of vast dunes, cliffs and empty holiday resorts is swathed with white sands and turquoise ocean.

It’s too early for summer tourists to occupy the numerous holiday properties, so we feel as if we have the coast to ourselves.

Portugal seems so unpopulated, perhaps even more so due to being here outside of peak season. The roads are quiet and open spaces commonplace, bringing such a feeling of solitude.

Nazaré’s famous waves

The famous waves at Nazaré can apparently reach an incredible 80ft high, thanks to the geographical phenomenon beneath the sea. This underwater canyon reaches depths of 5000 meters, resulting in the formation of colossal waves above.

Not only are these waves a sight to see, but they’re also an attraction for those big surfer fanatics of the world. As a result, it’s no surprise the biggest beach-breaking wave in the World was rode here in 2011, with the surfer riding a 30m high monster wave!

So, we’ve high hopes of catching a glimpse of this super sea surf in action.

Stuck in a tight spot – Nazaré to Aveiro in Portugal

Unfortunately for us, our Nazare surf spotting moment doesn’t go quite to plan! First of all, it turns out Nazare is a rather narrow town and a bit hilly too. It’s also raining heavily, with everything looking rather bleak.

We’re unsure where to drive to, but somehow end up on a dead end road by a fort. Apparently, a walk along a footpath from here should bring us out at the wave spotting area, but we end up getting in a sticky situation.

The road is hilly and narrow and has cars parked along the entire length, right down to the dead end section.

This means, we’ve nowhere to park and even worse, no place to turn round. So, there’s only one thing to do, reverse the entire length of the road up hill. Thankfully, nothing comes down as we’re going back up in reverse, but we must look quite a sight.

After another couple of attempts at parking elsewhere, we just give up it up as a bad job. Sometimes, we know when to call it a day and Nazare today has the better of us.

For now, we’ll have to make do with some YouTube videos of those rather large waves!

In search of a place for the night

With our tail between our legs, we drive onwards up the coast in search of a place for the night. Eventually, we settle on a beachside parking area in a place called Cova. This small town with long stretches of beach has the most gigantic looking sand bags we’ve ever seen, strewn along its shore.

There turns out to be several motorhomes parked up, but the weather is improving and the sea view is more appealing.

We head out for a quick walk, ending up at a small convenience store amongst residential buildings. Here we buy a few bits for a meal and retreat back to the camper.

Unfortunately, a peaceful night sleep isn’t forthcoming. It turns out to be one of those parking areas which attracts wheel-spinning youngsters who like night owls, prefer the dark hours of the morning, but in their case to practice erratic driving antics.

Colourful Costa Nova do Prado

Waking to more rain, we don’t hang around. It’s time to continue up the coast, this time passing nearby Figuiera da Foz and stumbling upon a Sunday market.

We aren’t going to stop initially, but then decide to pull over and take a look. With raincoats on, we step out towards the large market, which covers both sides of the main road. To be honest, I’m not really sure where we are, but the market is great!

Everything is on sale here, from livestock to locally made blankets, of which we buy two! Blankets that is, not chickens!

Although we’re wet and cold from the rain, we enjoy our market wander. Back on the road, we head for a colourful coastal town known for its splendid painted striped buildings. This is Costa Nova do Prado, which is empty of life on this wet day. Pulling over beside a water front walkway, we stop for lunch in the camper and hope the rain stops.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop raining. This means, we’re going to get wet again, as we take a leap into the giant puddle outside the van.

The bright stripes of the facades along this main road are quite delightful, even in the rain. Apparantly, once occupied by fishermen from the 19th century to store nets and equipment, they’re now a striking image along this lagoon town.

We think they resemble a touch of Disney!

Aveiro – The Venice of Portugal

Continuing on our way, we decide to stop in the popular tourist destination of Aveiro. Known as The Venice of Portugal, thanks to a series of canals, we’re eager to take a look.

There’s a proper motorhome parking area in Aveiro, so we head there first. Unfortunately, it’s full, with no sign of any motorhomes leaving either. Although we don’t give up too easily, it becomes obvious, after 30 minutes of driving round in circles, that we should look elsewhere.

After checking our Apps, we navigate a slightly awkward and very narrow road system through town. It takes forever trying to reach a parking area beneath the flyover on the edge of town. We just can’t seem to find the correct turning to reach this awkward spot, and in the process, end up on one-way systems down small back streets.

This is the no fun side to van travels and moments we remember why we downsized from a bigger motorhome.

Somehow, we end up on a canal-side parking area in front of the larger parking area we’ve been trying to reach. We decide this will have to do, but not for overnight, as there’s some poor recent reviews mentioning undesirables at play!

With this in mind, we park amongst cars and hope to return to the van in one piece!

Aveiro and its boats

Aveiro is known for its colourful wooden boats which are called Moliceiro and we soon spot several on the water.

Visitors can take a trip along the waterways of Aveiro on one of these unusual looking boats and I must say, they look wonderful.

We take a walk through the old town instead, watching the activities on the water from the pavements. On our visit, there’s seems lots of investment works underway, so there’s some disruption to the walkways and streets.

Nonetheless, there’s a bustling old part of town along with a more modern shopping area off the canals. Overall, there’s enough to keep us busy for a few hours. However, it’s a little wet on and off still, so we don’t see Aveiro at its best.

We’re eager to move on and find a place for the night. This time, we drive to a small motorhome parking area further inland, at Oliveira de Azemeis. We’re here alone, surrounded by trees on a hilly area outside of town.

Luckily, there’s a motorhome dump and fresh area adjacent, so we’re able to make use of this before heading off.

Tomorrow, we’re doing a rather exciting walk, the Paiva Walkways which also involves an incredible swing bridge, 516 Arouca.

Stay tuned next time for this amazing experience!

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