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On first
arriving at
Costa Nova
in central Portugal you can be forgiven for thinking
you've driven onto the set of a Disney film.
The
multi-coloured, striped houses, which line the main
promenade, do look as though they've been erected as the
back drop for a feel-good, family film.
However these
brightly coloured buildings are not part of a major
motion picture, but actual homes, immaculately kept
ones.
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Set against
bright blue sky of a summer's day, and with seagulls
circling above, Walt Disney could not have conjured up a
more quintessential seaside picture though if he'd
tried.
Costa Nova,
situated around 11 kilometres west of
Aveiro, is
somewhere which oozes family holiday appeal. It
makes you reminisce about long forgotten beach holidays
as children - buckets and spades, sunshine, laughter,
candyfloss and building castles and burying parents in
the sand.
Costa Nova
is a place where you want to create happy memories for
your children, while reliving those of your own. It's a
place which by just being there makes you feel good.
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Candy Cane-Striped Houses |
Elaborate Architecture |
Restaurants in Costa Nova |
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Moleiros in Aveiro Lagoon |
Rolling Atlantic Waves |
Fishing
Boats in Aveiro Lagoon |
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Costa Nova (New
Coast) is situated on a spit of land created during a
massive storm in the 16th century, linked to mainland
Portugal by a bridge. The vertical and horizontal
striped homes, an attraction in themselves, have
replaced the fishermen's shacks which once stood in
their place.
The unusual striped houses were once fishermen's shacks,
which were constructed using horizontal wooden
latticing, painted in bright colours to stand out
against the pale tones of the sand. However over time
the fishermen vacated as holidaying visitors moved in,
utilising their single storey shacks as beach huts.
Most, if not all of the original fishermen's shacks have
long since disappeared, replaced by permanent houses and
holiday homes. Today the colourful, striped houses have
changed their stripes to vertical and are not
necessarily constructed in wood.
The town of
Costa Nova,
which faces Aveiro Lagoon to the west and the ferocious
waves of the Atlantic to the east, is linked to mainland
Portugal by a bridge. The main brunt of the town faces
the lagoon, and is sheltered from the winds off the
Atlantic by large sand dunes.
The town aside from the multi-coloured
houses, does have a 1920s feel to it, with many Art Deco
buildings lining the promenade including the Tourist
Information building, which has a 'wave' like roof.
There are any number of cafes and
restaurants on the main promenade which provide
ring-side seats to observe the fishermen going about
their business of trawling for shellfish and seaweed in
the lagoon.
Costa Nova
also has kilometres of wide, sandy beaches with wooden
walkways to ease the passage along the sand. Cafes are
conveniently located along the beach, which is perfect
for an afternoon stroll, building sand castles with
children or seeking out wild life in some of the
protected dunes.
As you would expect from a seaside town,
children are well catered for with a number of play
parks in situ. In addition to this there are cycle and
roller-blading paths around the town to keep you fit, or
bruised.
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Protective Sand Dunes |
Costa Nova Beaches |
Tourist information office |
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Best
Time to Visit Costa Nova, central Portugal |
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When visiting
Costa Nova
it's best to do so in late Spring, early summer, so you
can enjoy jumping into the waves to cool off. However
the town itself is a delight at any time of the year and
best done with children in tow. |
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Getting to Aveiro, central Portugal |
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Costa Nova
is relatively easy
to access with good road links from Aveiro. is easy to
access either by road or rail as well as by a regular
schedule of both trains and buses.
From Lisbon:
Costa Nova is around 270 kilometres from Lisbon airport to
the south. Lisbon airport is serviced by a variety of
low cost airlines which operate regulate flights into
and out of the United Kingdom.
From Porto:
Only 60 minutes from Porto airport via the electronic
toll road road A28 (77 kilometres).
By Train:
The closest you can get to Costa Nova if you are
travelling by train, is near by Aveiro. Aveiro is serviced by a mainline train service, running on
an hourly basis from Porto. |
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Map
of Costa Nova, central Portugal |
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View Costa Nova, central Portugal in a larger map |
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