Before leaving Ovar we obtained a “Pão de Ló” sponge cake, the local specialty, for later sampling (📷1); the lady who sold it proudly told us it was her 2x great grandfather’s recipe.

The reserva natural das Dunas de São Jacinto | São Jacinto Dunes Nature Reserve is bounded on one side by the Atlanic Ocean & on the other by the tidal mouth of ria de Aveiro. It protects an area of dunes but mostly comprises pine forest, offering a habitat for mosquitoes, brambles & gorse. From the hide at Pateira Pequena (a small pond) we heard frogs, but didn’t linger under threat of 🦟 exsanguination. What did impress was the sheer volume of Trichilogaster acaciaelongifoliae | the longleaf wattle gall wasp, which parasitises the invasive Acacia longifolia | longleaf wattle native to SE Australia (📷2). We also met Chalcophora mariana | the pine-borer beetle, native across much of Europe (📷3). The dunes of Praia de São Jacinto can be overlooked from a platform at the end of a boardwalk (📷4). From the hide at Pateira Grande (a large pond) we saw a solitary duck.

Next stop was to be Aveiro, billed as the “Venice of Portugal”; the canals didn’t impress sufficiently as we drove by hunting for 🅿️, so we kept going. Being Easter, Núcleo Museológico do Sal on the coast wouldn’t be open for our visit, so we turned inland.

🇵🇹 #portugal 🇪🇺 #europe 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife 🥾 #hiking #nature