Aveiro

The Euro 2004 tournament will be played in eight great Portuguese cities. Here's a guide to some of their delights:

Style Watch: Rattan Revolution Diversions: All Talk Food: Season to Taste Outdoors: Comfy Camping

Don't get caught calling Aveiro the Venice of Portugal just because of the charming canals that crisscross the city. Residents prefer to think of Venice as the Aveiro of Italy. Located on the Ria de Aveiro, a 45-kilometer-long saltwater lagoon mostly cut off from the Atlantic by wide sand dunes and pine forests, the city (pop. 70,000) dates back at least to the 10th century. The Moors held it until the 14th century, after which it became popular with Portuguese royalty. In 1575, a terrible storm closed the entrance to its port, ending a thriving trade in metals and tiles. Aveiro went into decline over the following centuries. It has now won back much of its prosperity through new industries, such as chemical manufacturing, ceramics and tourism; however, the traditional ones—salt making, fishing, tile making—still thrive. For visitors, the canals are the chief attraction. They are lined with tile-fronted Art Nouveau-style houses and moliceiro boats with high, pointed prows that curl up out of the water. Brightly painted and gaily decorated, the boats were originally used for dredging seaweed for fertilizer; now they are used mainly by tourists. However, there are moliceiro races on the Ria every July, August and September, which lure back Aveiro natives from all over the world. More leisurely hour-long moliceiro rides leave regularly in summer from in front of the tourist office in the town center. Larger excursion boats visit the nearby salt pans and provide lunch. Those who prefer to travel on land can borrow free bicycles from stands all over town, courtesy of City Hall.