Salty Boats

Past and Present

I knew that Aveiro was called the Venice of Portugal. But didn’t know a lot of the details. Our walking tour with Nádia filled in the gaps nicely; helping us understand the salt industry and the salty boats that now traverse the canals.

Aveiro, known for its Art Noveau architecture and canal boats.

First Impressions

We arrived in Aveiro by train around 1700. Our Airbnb host met us at the one-bedroom apartment in the center of town. We dropped off our bags and went for a walk. The Airbnb host provided several dinner recommendations and we made reservations for 1900 (early by Portuguese standards) at Salpoente. While the food was a bit “chic-chic”, the service was exceptional. You can’t fault a restaurant that places a complimentary glass of champagne in front of you the minute you sit down.

Raw oysters with mango, salt, and lime.

I sometimes bristle when a server recommends how (in what order) I should eat the food placed in front of me. In this case, it was recommended that we eat some salt, then the oyster, then the juice of the lime. An oyster tequila shooter, I thought. But when in Aveiro... I had an entree of buckwheat risotto with asparagus and edible flowers and Denise ordered pasta with monkfish and shrimp. Both were quite good, though expensive by Portuguese standards.

One of several squares with crowds watching Portugal vs. France.

The real fun began when we left the restaurant. We followed the sounds of anguish and joy as we walked. We happened upon several squares where crowds were gathered around TVs watching Portugal and France in the UEFA Euro 2020 match. [We learned the next day that the game ended in a tie. But because somebody else didn’t beat somebody else, Portugal was still in it. In preparation for writing this post, I learned that unfortunately, Portugal lost to Belgium 1-0 on 27 June and thus will not repeat as champions.]

Now for Some Education

We met Nádia at 0900 the next morning. Unfortunately for her, fortunately for us, we were her only guests for this tour. As Aveiro was famous for the production of salt, let me start with a primer:

Portugal, with its extensive coastline exposed to hot and dry winds and constantly high temperatures during summer, has always shown favourable conditions for the development of salinas that use the renewable eolic and solar energies to produce salt…Salt exploitation was then of utmost importance to the national economy and the Ria de Aveiro, a natural lagoon at the mouth of the Vouga river, became particularly important, providing, by 1178, enough salt for the whole country and for large exports abroad. — Artisanal salt production in Aveiro/Portugal

Nádia explained that in the summer the men “harvested” the salt. She showed us photos of the over 200 salinas that existed around Aveiro then and of the boats laden with salt. She also showed us photos of the women, that “helped”, by unloading the boats … carrying 60-80kg of salt in baskets on their heads. In the winter, the men went to sea fortified by an orange liquor made by these same women. They fished in Iceland and off the Canadian coast…butterflying the cod and layering it with salt (for preservation). They returned in the spring and began this cycle of work again. Of course, this pattern changed when in 1936 artisanal salt production was impacted by refrigeration and industrialized salt production driving down the cost. When we visited the few remaining salinas later that day we saw a sign advertising 40kg of salt for only 6€.

Historical painting to the left…but zoom into the one on the right.

Look Carefully

Nádia also explained that prior to the revolution, anti-government speech could land someone in prison. So often the bows of boats were painted with scenes and captions that offered double entendre...political satire if you will. Today, these have been replaced by somewhat saltier (naughty) cartoons. For example, the cartoon-like painting on the boat to the right above translates as “What a rich pair of ovos moles”. Ovos moles are the yoke and sugar-filled pastries encased in communion wafers for which Aveiro is known. They are often produced in pillow-like shapes that look like her breasts.

I’ve included a few more examples below:

Translation: “In that heart, I can put my hand.”

Translation: What a big fish.

You’ll need to get out your Portuguese translater if you want to know what this says:

If you are offended…sorry, but then again Americans are prudes. Till next time…enjoy!