Aveiro is a small town with everything at hand, such as shopping centres, cinemas, supermarkets, bars and restaurants, hotels and residentials, exhibitions. The town is plain and bright. The best time to go there should be end of summer, beginning of autumn, although march is usually very nice too. The town is very humid, so at night it's always a bit cold. You can have a pretty good idea of the town in about three to four days either walking or riding a BUGA (free bike of Aveiro). Don't miss the canals, the University Library (if you're in to architecture), the Bairro da Beira Mar, the Marinha da Troncalhada, the old train station, the Forum shopping centre and surrondings. You have to try the food there which is usually very good. Try fish and sea food, but be careful if you're not used to it. You have to try the sweets in Aveiro all made of egg yolk and sugar. to name just a few: ovos moles, castanhas de ovos, broinhas de pao de ló (my favorite!). Also try the "tripa", a snack made of soft biscuit filled with whatever you like: chocolate, eggs, marmelades, cheese... my favorite is chocolat mint! People are usually friendly in restaurants, bars and also on the streets and they will always try to help you... even though they might not fully understand you. For a bit of nightlife try the Praça do Peixe, named after the fish market, where you can find a bunch of small bars. My favorites: Botirao and El Greco.
Lake of Idanha-A-Nova, a beautiful, out of this world scenery. Large lake, dry ground, some ancient trees offering shade scattered around. Around mid August host of a beautiful alternative festival called BoomFestival supplying massive amounts of art, permaculture, eco-ways, sustainability, teachings of all kinds such as yoga, fighting, dancing, spirituality in all it's forms, creating music, acoustic instruments, audio engineering, theatre, fire, jugling, transcendental views.. etc... etc...
Music played; psytrance, trance, progressive, dub, ambient, ancient, all kinds of worldmusic, more relaxed electronics, partymusic,...
Focus; Sustainability, getting together in creativity, exchange.
When?; A whole week once every two years this selfsustaining city of lights comes alive.
What not to forget?; Make sure you got, or find, anything to make shade and comfortable in this mostly blistering heat. (micro climate) With so many thousands of people, don't stay too lang in stillstanding water, chances of bacteria, swimming in moving water is ok. Enjoy the peninsula, the people and the party.
Not many foreign tourists go to Peniche because it is mostly out of the way of basically everything. But if you have some spare time in portugal or you are a surfer (some times of the year the waves are great) Peniche is worth a visit. For those in need of their seafood -fix : this is the place to be and since most restaurants serve mostly portuguese tourists you can still tast authentic meals here. Try Robalo (no forno) or one of the Bacalhau receipes! For all your other seafood cravings there is a wide variety of shellfish, mussels, crab, shrimp, lobster, ... . A nice to know is that peniche used to be an island in the sea and the old city walls are still there, but that's as cultured as it gets.Hang out in lazy peniche where it never gets blistering hot, swim a bit and enjoy the food.
