Vista Alegre

As you might expect, seafood is the main gastronomical fare around Aveiro. Two local specialties for the adventurous are eel stew (caldeirada de enguias) and an egg-based sweet called ovos moles. Aveiro has also long been a center of fine pottery and porcelain production, and you’ll find both for sale around town. However, if you are a true potteryphile, you might want to make the 8-kilometer excursion (south on N109) to a little town called Vista Alegre, world-famous for its pottery works since 1824, which now has a museum depicting the history of developments in pottery manufacture. The porcelain made here is of an extremely fine quality and often hand painted with a faint Oriental flair.