Museu Marítimo de Ílhavo

Ílhavo sent men to the Grand Banks. The Portuguese cod fleet - the White Fleet, so called for its painted hulls - fished off Newfoundland and Greenland from sailing lugres well into the twentieth century, and the method was brutal: each man went out alone in a dóri, a small flat-bottomed dory, hand-lining for cod in fog and ice, and came back to the mother ship to gut and salt. Men were lost every season. The museum sets that out with boats, gear, photographs, models and the accounts of the men themselves, alongside the wider fishing and lagoon culture of the region. It also has a live cod aquarium, the only one of its kind, showing the fish the whole economy was built on. Moored at Gafanha da Nazaré nearby is the Santo André, a 1948 steam trawler kept as a ship museum, included on a combined ticket.

What to look for

• The dóris - the single-man dories used for hand-lining off Newfoundland.
• The White Fleet - the sailing cod ships and the men's own accounts of the work.
• The cod aquarium - live fish, unique among museums.
• The Santo André - a 1948 trawler moored nearby, on a combined ticket.

When to go

Year-round. Two hours, longer with the ship. Closed Mondays. Ílhavo needs a bus or car from Aveiro.

Practical notes

The subject includes real hardship and death, and the accounts are not softened. The trawler is a separate site a short drive away. Labelling is fuller in Portuguese. Ílhavo itself has little else for visitors.

Nearby

Vista Alegre is close; Aveiro and Costa Nova are north.

Key facts