If you’re thinking of a holiday to Portugal this year, one place you should consider is its lesser-known central region.

It has a wealth of culture and an array of fine dining on offer, together with a vast range of wines from the area.

Being only two hours flying time from the UK, it could be an excellent destination for a long weekend away.

The University of Aveiro is considered as one of the best in Portugal. Aveiro is also known as the Portuguese Venice, due to its system of canals and boats similar to the Italian city of Venice.

The city boasts 28 beautiful art nouveau buildings located along its tiled streets, each marked by an identifying plaque for the eager visitor to find.

There are several attractions in the city of Aveiro, including cathedrals, canals and the beaches of the Peninsula de Sao Jacinto.

Attractions near Aveiro include the Ilhavo ceramica de Vista Alegre, a porcelain factory started in 1815 by Pinto Basto which now produces 10 million pieces a year, and the beaches of Barra, Costa Nova do Prado, and Gafanha da Nazare.

The city of Aveiro has several shopping centres and malls with clothes stores, a restaurant zone, a book shop and a cinema.

Aveiro is known in Portugal for its traditional sweets, ovos moles de Aveiro and trouxas de ovos, both made from eggs. Raivas are also a typical biscuit of Aveiro. Sea salt, produced in Aveiro since 1959, is still part of modern day life and used for the salting of their national dish, cod.

Cod fishing was a major part of the country’s history and it now has a dedicated museum to the industry at Ilhavo. The museum first opened its doors in 1937. Portuguese fishermen would fish off Newfoundland for 12 hours a day with lines in a one-man boat called a dory. During the Second World War, the fleet was painted white, as they were neutral, after vessels were mistakenly attacked.

Their fleet, which once boasted 80 vessels, has now decreased to just 13, but the salted fish is still a major part of Portuguese life, with possibly a different recipe for every day of the year, with even a traditional cod meal being eaten on Christmas Eve.

Stop off at the coastal town of Costa Nova where you can also wander around a traditional fish market and venture into a local restaurant to sample some traditional cod dishes.

The city of Viseu has the Grao Vasco Museum, an art museum named after one of the most important Portuguese painters of the renaissance, Vasco Fernandes, who had his workshop in Viseu. The city is rich in churches, convents and chapels and has a fine historic quarter with narrow, cobbled streets, hidden alleyways and intriguing flights of steps.

The medieval capital of Portugal for more than 100 years, and site of the country’s greatest university for the past five centuries, Coimbra wears its weighty importance in Portuguese history with gritty dignity.

Its historic core spills down a hillside on the east bank of the Rio Mondego, a multicoloured collage of buildings spanning nearly a millennium, from the Moorish Arco de Almedina at the base of town to the 18th-century clock tower crowning the courtyard of the old university.

If you visit during the academic year, you’ll be sure to feel the university’s influence. Students throng the bars and cafes of the old town and posters advertise talks on everything.

Stroll the streets of the city and its old stone walls reverberate with the haunting metallic notes of the Portuguese guitar and the full, deep voices of fado singers.

Getaway

John flew from Gatwick Airport to Porto Airport with TAP Airline (flytap.com)

He stayed at the Hotel Moliceiro, Aveiro (hotelmoliceiro.com), the Casa da se, Viseu (casadase.net) and the Hotel Quinta das Lagrimas, Coimbra (quintadaslagrimas.pt)