Sunday 13 September 2026 – As hinted in the last entry, today, being not a walking day (28km in temperatures of 35°C? What could possibly go wrong?) involved a late breakfast and then whistling up another Uber. The breakfast at Vinyl M was delivered on a tray but was remarkably good – yoghurt, bread rolls, cheese, ham, croissants and a creditable flat white coffee. Our Uber arrived a few minutes late, but delivered us swiftly to our next accommodation, the Hotel Conde d’Águeda, where the lovely Beatrice on reception not only had a room ready for us but also spent a decent amount of time talking about the various sights we could see around the town. Brierley hardly gives Águeda an entire sentence, but we were actually really looking forward to walking round to see the various bits of street art that Jane’s researches had told us were to be found. We had a cup of tea, first, of course, which enabled us to plan our next moves in the light (and heat) of the heat wave which was due to last a couple of days more. The A/B decision was: (A) walk around in 35-degree heat to see the artworks we knew about now, then get an early night to start walking at 0600 the next day; or (B) sod that for a game of soldiers, rest up for the day, see the artworks in cool of the next morning and get another Uber. Jane’s plan was A; mine, unsurprisingly, was B. Reader, I won the day! We decided that seeing the art in comfort was better than walking the 16km to Albergaria. That said, we went for a walk anyway. Obviously.
Our hotel was handily placed to walk to much of what was worth seeing, so we waited a bit to allow the day to cool a bit and then set out. It wasn’t difficult to see where we could start – there are colourful artworks all over the place,
but one of the main things to marvel at was the Umbrella Sky Project.
Águeda’s roots go back to Celtic/Lusitanian settlement, with the area occupied since at least the 4th century BC. It shows up in documents from 1050–1077 under names like Casal Lousado, Anegia, Agatha and Ágada, and by the 9th century was known as Ágata. Through the Middle Ages it belonged to the monasteries of Lorvão and Vacariça rather than having its own royal charter, and functioned as a stop on the road to Santiago de Compostela. It became a municipal seat in 1834 after Portugal’s Liberal Revolution, and was only granted city status in 1985. Historically it made its name in metalworking, bicycles, and ceramics – hence it has the nickname “Portuguese Bicycle Capital”.
The transformation to being a “street art town” is very recent and very deliberate. The Umbrella Sky Project was born in Águeda in 2012, created by the design firm Impactplan working with the local council on what started as a small installation on one narrow street. It was inspired by the image of Mary Poppins floating down with her umbrella, and it was part of the AgitÁgueda festival, which used it to add colour and shade during the hot summer months. Photos went viral, and, as we were to see for ourselves, the town leaned into it hard; it’s now spawned licensed versions in cities from Lisbon to Pensacola, Florida. That festival became the, erm, umbrella for a much wider street-art push, including a strand called Rexenera aimed at getting big murals and sculptures into public squares.
So, worth spending extra time to appreciate, then.
There are colourful embellishments everywhere you look around the town centre,
and the Umbrella Sky presence covers several streets.
The Umbrella idea has been mercilessly exploited, time and time again
and the “Sky” aspect has also mutated in places, as we discovered when we walked further afield the following morning (see later).
As we walked around, the Disneyland-esque feel of the place almost made me feel as if we’d been transported to somewhere in the USA. It’s quite the riot of colour (which, sadly, somewhat disguises the areas of neglect which are quite common in Portugal). It gives an agreeable air to walking around and, say, stopping for a beer and pizza. So we did. I think we must have got our timing a bit wrong; as we took seats outside the Sant’Oregano pizzeria we were almost the only customers and it took an unconscionable amount of time to produce our pizzas – over 40 minutes. By the time we’d finished them, the pizza place – and the street it was on – was quite lively, with a Saturday night buzz, so I think we might have been a bit early. The pizzas were good and the beer was welcome, but the quantities were excessive. So, after we’d eaten, we decided we should go for a walk. Obviously. We headed down to the river and walked along it to see a work by a particular artist, and it was lovely to see it; but the light wasn’t at its best, so we resolved to include it in our walkabout the next morning.
When we got back to the hotel we noticed that the ground floor bar was labelled an “honesty bar”; and I’d thought I’d seen some gin on the counter when we’d checked in. I had not been wrong;
there was indeed an excellent selection of gins, but we couldn’t find the necessary ice and tonic to make any of them into a decent drink. We asked at reception and the nice lass there went off and came back with ice and tonic, so the situation was saved. She also offered to put the charge for the drinks on our room bill, which was fine – but it means that the description of “honesty bar” is not very accurate. No matter – it was lovely to have a decent G&T.
So: that was yesterday. Today, we walked further afield in the relative cool of the morning. Breakfast was taken on the top floor of the hotel, whence we got a nice view of the misty morning
and one of the Umbrella Sky streets.
Before we went out, Jane also took this shot of a mural that we could see from our bedroom.
We walked nearly 4km to search out the things we knew about, and there were three particular works that we wanted to see. More of them later, but there was much else to spot. Of course, we wanted to find the various Sky projects, and there were several non-umbrella ones to be seen.
This one has the theme of fishes and the sea,
another is a “garden” in the sky,
and there is a sunflower street, too.
There is artwork all around: some big pieces
some medium-sized ones;
and some small touches.
The cogwheel is essentially Águeda’s symbol of industry. Águeda developed a strong industrial base, particularly in metalworking, machinery, bicycles and related manufacturing, and the town’s heraldry reflects that. The cogwheel appears prominently in the municipal coat of arms, alongside grapes, pine trees and wavy blue lines, which represent the River Águeda.
There are embellishments on and around several buildings, such as the town hall and the arts centre.
There are some more traditional artistic touches around;
the azulejo panel illustrates the historical lifestyle of the nearby Aveiro district coastline, showcasing the iconic bateiras (traditional flat-bottomed boats) and the marshy lagoon landscape. The Águeda municipality, particularly the Fábrica de Faianças do Outeiro de Águeda and master painters like João Breda, has a deeply rooted history in producing monumental, hand-painted blue and white tile panels that celebrate regional Portuguese landmarks and traditions. (I’ve taken the em dashes out of the above so that you won’t know I got it from AI.)
Given the town’s history, it unsurprising to see bicycles represented around, such as these verges on the garden sky street.
There was a substantial bric-a-brac market going on (this being a Sunday) in and among the artworks.
However, the things that really interested us were works by Bordallo II – he of the “art from trash” installations. Águeda boasts no fewer than three: a robin, down by the river;
a salamander, by the town hall;
and, slightly further afield, a kitten.
(You can infer from the solar panels above the kitten that this is lit at night.)
Walking around to see all of these things was an agreeable way of spending the morning. Just before midday, we checked out of the hotel and were Uber-whisked by Jose (listening to religious anthems all the way – well, it is Sunday) to our accommodation in Albergaria-a-Velha. jane spotted a grain store on the way. In Spain, these are called horreos, but in Portugal their name is espigueiros, and they are, I read, found principally in the north-west of the country. This being the direction we’re headed, I would expect us to see more of these as we walk further north – because walk is what we firmly intend to do whenever the weather renders it other than a stupid idea.
Jose dropped us off in a hot, sunny street in Albergaria, and we walked along it to find our accommodation, Estalagem dos Padres – Inn of the Priests. It was, of course, locked and deserted. Fortunately, sitting on the street opposite the entrance was an Australian lass, Georgina, who was in contact with the owners, and, long story short, we got in to what is evidently a remotely-operated establishment. Our keys were in a drawer, our breakfast will be delivered to a drawer in the well-equipped kitchen and there was a kettle, with milk in the fridge. We were able, then, to have a cup of tea and a chat with Georgina, and work out what to do with the rest of the day. Georgina has been hard core and walked all the way from Lisbon; well done to her! She has chatted with a few people along the way and helped a couple, including, she told us, an 86-year old lady from America, who’d been having difficulty finding the way (not surprising, given the lack of signage in Lisbon). I was working on this blog in the lounge area when who should turn up but the American lady, Louise from Pennysylvania. We chatted a bit before she went off to her room, and then it was time for Jane and me to go out and find somewhere to eat.
Albergaria is obviously a place of great pith and moment, since it has a couple of bars that are actually open on a Sunday, and, mirabile dictu, a restaurant, Memórias, that was open all day. We had a good, copious, meal there and tottered back to the Estalagem for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow, our target is Oliveira de Azeméis, which is about 20km away (and at the top of a hill; sigh), so if we get on with it and don’t hang about we should be able to walk there and arrive before the worst of the day’s heat. An early start beckons!
