Vila do Conde lies at the mouth of the Ave river, about 30 kilometres north of Porto, to which it is linked by metro (line B). It is an old town of fishermen and shipyards: in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many of the caravels and ships of the discoveries were launched from its slipways.
Santa Clara and the aqueduct
On the hill above the river stands the large convent of Santa Clara, founded in 1318 by Afonso Sanches, an illegitimate son of King Dinis, and his wife: the Gothic church holds their tombs. To bring water to the convent, an aqueduct about four kilometres long was built in the eighteenth century, with hundreds of arches, one of the longest in Portugal, much of it still visible.
The town and the sea
Moored at the riverside quay is the Nau Quinhentista, a reconstruction of a sixteenth-century ship, which you can visit together with the nearby interpretation centre on shipbuilding and the discoveries. The old centre has the Manueline mother church, the pillory and the Bobbin Lace Museum, as Vila do Conde, like Peniche, has a long tradition of renda de bilros. Every July the town hosts Curtas Vila do Conde, one of Europe's leading short film festivals. The broad, sandy Atlantic beaches are dotted with small chapels and the fort of São João Baptista.
Póvoa de Varzim
Next door to the north, Póvoa de Varzim (64,320 people in 2021) is one of the north's most popular seaside resorts, with a lively seafront, a large casino and long beaches. The writer Eça de Queirós, one of Portugal's greatest novelists, was born here in 1845. The town has a rich seafaring culture: the siglas poveiras, marks used by fishermen as signatures on boats and gear, and the camisola poveira, a white wool sweater embroidered in red and black. On the hill of Terroso are the remains of an Iron Age hillfort, the Cividade de Terroso.
Getting there
Both towns are served by line B of the Porto metro and are about 20 minutes from the airport. Further north are Barcelos and Viana do Castelo.