Costa Nova

Costa Nova beach

The workshop ended in mid-afternoon on the third day, so I had a chance to explore more around Aveiro. When I mentioned to another researcher that I was thinking of walking to the beach, he shook his head. I would have to walk along the highway, he said, but he was going to work in a café out there and would be happy to drive me. We grabbed one more researcher who was interested, hopped in the car, and headed to Costa Nova.

Barra lighthouse in Costa Nova

Driving out of Aveiro on the highway, we passed the Ria Aveiro estuary and large salt flats. Aveiro is on the coast, but the space between the town and the beach itself is filled with pools where seawater is evaporated to harvest salt – one of the major industries in Aveiro in historical and modern times. There has been trade between Portugal and Norway since about the 12^th century, with the Portuguese exporting salt and importing salted codfish.

Striped homes in Costa Nova

The beach reminded me a lot of Oregon. There were steep sand dunes and large waves. Stone jetties extended out into the water and served as habitat to algae and mussels at their deeper ends. Familiar shells covered the beach – blue mussels, cockles, clams. Some fishermen fished with large poles from the jetties, and there was a tall, red-and-white-striped lighthouse. It was gorgeous.

What surprised me was the town. Costa Nova, located just outside Aveiro, is a vacation destination, and it looks the part. Pale adobe houses with terra cotta roofs lined the streets, but many of the houses have a more maritime look. They were painted with vertical stripes, always in a bright color that alternated with white. The Portuguese researcher explained that in the old days, homes in Costa Nova were

Ovos moles

built from long wooden boards placed vertically to form the walls, and the boards would be painted in alternating colors. For whatever reason, the aesthetic has remained popular even though wood is no longer used. The overall effect was of a storybook town on the water, and despite the short distance between them, Costa Nova felt very different from Aveiro.

The last thing I did in Portugal was try a local delicacy called "ovos moles." In Portugal, it is traditional to make sweet treats with a custard of egg yolk, cream, and sugar. Nuns traditionally were master bakers in Portugal. They needed the egg whites for other household tasks, so they had numerous egg yolks left over and developed delicious ways to bake them. Ovos moles consists of a thick, baked egg-and-cream custard surrounded by a wafer similar to a communion wafer (making it even more obvious that the treats were invented by nuns). I tried some from a bakery in downtown Aveiro that came highly recommended, and they were good! Not too sweet, very thick with a mild egg-yolk flavor.

I have greatly enjoyed the chance to experience Portugal this week. It has been a good workshop!