Hi,
Well, we finally made it to a third Christmas Market this weekend. Or, at least we thought we had done so. What we found was a lovely downtown decorated for Christmas, but no traditional market. Instead, we were on Canal Central with all the regular shops. Still, we had a great time.
But let me back up. Before heading to Aveiro, we pulled over at a park in Palhaça to stretch our legs (and the dogs’ legs, also). It works best for us if the dogs are worn out before we take them somewhere with tons of people and sounds and sudden movements. Thus, we pulled over at a lovely park (Parque da Palhaça, G9JW+FW Palhaça, Portugal). This park had it all…minus an off-leash area for the dogs. But it had lots of picnic tables, grills with running water, a duck pond with ducks, and tree-lined paths. Interestingly, it also had three spots for camper/RV parking with electric and water. I’ve seen RVs on the highways but have never seen a roadside park with RV hookups in it, smack dab in the middle of a town. And it was less than two minutes off the highway we were travelling on and twenty minutes from Aveiro. Good on you, Palhaça!
Aveiro is a mid-sized city that is known for its canals. It is called the ‘Venice of Portugal’. While it doesn’t have quite as many canals as Venice, it does have boats (barcos moliceiros) you can catch a ride on to take a tour (15 Euros for adults) of the various canals in the city. We didn’t take the tour this time because we were there to walk around and look at the Christmas lights (and I don’t like boats because I get seasick – even in a canal).
By chance, we found an underground parking lot and set off for an adventure. This parking lot had an escalator, which made us uncomfortable, but we also found an elevator, which was much better for our dogs. If we hadn’t found the elevator, we would have kept on looking until we found the stairs. Dogs and escalators do not go together.
We arrived up top in the middle of an outdoor shopping area. It was still daylight, so the lights were not lit, but we headed out to see what Aveiro had to offer. The first thing we found was the Christmas tree, which helpfully gave us a landmark so we would be able to find the elevator when we were leaving. Then we saw the canal and headed towards it. One of the bridges was right there, covered in ribbons that people had written their names/dates/wishes on. Of course, the dogs were not interested in reading the ribbons, they wanted to see everything, not stop here.
Further down the canal were more bridges and sites to see. Eventually the sun set, and we were able to get pictures with the Christmas lights lit. We stayed a few hours, watching the lights and listening to a very loud band. We didn’t spend too much time listening to the band, because the dogs were not pleased. But there were plenty of folks who did like the band, so we weren’t missed when we headed off down a side street looking for a quiet area with bright lights.
We enjoyed walking around Aveiro. Sadly, this will be the last Christmas event we attend this season, as the season is over. We have had a lovely time this season, and look forward to the next.
Nola