Description Ílhavo

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The Municipality of Ílhavo, a tourist destination integrating the Ria de Aveiro, includes two cities: the charismatic city of Ílhavo and the dynamic Gafanha da Nazaré. It has about 7 km of golden sands, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, and is also triple crossed by the Ria: to the north by the entrance of the bar, and, in the north-south direction, by the Channels of Mira and Bôco. It is the Portuguese Capital of Cod, has “O Mar por Tradição” and is the birthplace of the world-renowned and almost bicentennial Fábrica da Vista Alegre.
In the channels of the Ria, nautical activities, fishing, water sports, bird watching and other natural values ??are practiced, providing good, different and unique moments. On the beaches of Barra and Costa Nova beaches, the sea joins the land in a unique and beautiful way, being a pretext for multiple uses, always under the light, color and reference of the Lighthouse and Palheiros of Costa Nova.

The Maritime Museum of Ílhavo shares the epic history of cod fishing by the line and its Ship Museum Santo André tells the life of the trawl. Nor has the live fish in its habitat been forgotten: the Aquarium of the Codfish. Culture in the municipality of Ílhavo is lived with intensity and creativity in its four spaces: Laboratory of Arts, Factory of Ideas, House of Culture and Creative Pier.

Fábrica da Vista Alegre is present at the tables of European royal houses, an example of what is best done in Portugal, telling us the history of ceramics over the last two hundred years, well represented in its new and extraordinary Museum and enchanting us with its delicate and exquisite artistic creations.

Speaking of table, delight yourself with our extraordinary gastronomy, in which fish, in general, and cod, in a very particular way, assume a predominant role, side by side with the unmistakable rice pudding in the style of Ílhavo or pumpkin porridge, as well as the delicious bread from Vale de Ílhavo, still baked in wood ovens today, by the hands of traditional bakers, neighbors of the unmistakable Carders, unique figures in carnivals throughout the region.