Located between Lisbon and Oporto, with the country's largest motorway (the A1) crossing it in the north-south direction is Central Portugal and its Silver Coast . The mild temperatures and white sandy beaches offer one the choice between practising water sports and the calm life of the seaside.The curative springs and the lush vegetation of secular forests have preserved all the rewards of their unspoilt nature. The monasteries, convents, castles, churches, and museums witness the priceless historic and artistic heritage of renowned universal value. As one of the most economically developed regions in the country, Costa de Prata is also home for famous traditional art treasures, such as its porcelain and crystal, as well as its gastronomy, strongly influenced by the sea and counterbalanced by its tasty Bairrada wines and mouth-watering sweets. In the fishing villages or urban historic centres, the kindness of the people is but another asset to add to this bountiful area's vast list of qualities.
It is a coastal city with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities in the Atlantic Ocean coast. As a city of tourism it plays an important part in the centre of the country. A zone of legal gambling, you find here one of the biggest casinos of the Iberian Peninsula – the Casino Peninsular.
The city is an important industrial centre, producing wood pulp, paper and glass. It has also notable naval construction and fish industries.
According to the legend the place’s name is due to a fig tree, which stood at the quay of Salmanha, where the fishermen used to tie up their boats. The historian Nelson Borges said, however, that Figueira comes from the word "fagaria", which means "opening, huge mouth". Foz comes from the Latin word "fouces" = "mouth of a river", and Mondego comes from the pre-romanic expressions "mond" = "mouth" and "aec"= "river". That means, Figueira da Foz would be "the river’s mouth opening".
Some historical traces show that people were settling in this region since the neolithic age. The oldest known document, however, dates from the year 1096. In this an abbot named Pedro donates estates, which belonged to the church of S. Julião, to the cathedral Sé Velha of Coimbra. Knowing the great importance rivers had in the development of cities and of ancient civilizations, the mouth of the Mondego must have played a central role for the fixation of men in this region and for the formation of settlements, which were the beginning of the city of Figueira da Foz. It was elevated to " vila" (small town) on March 12th, 1771 and turned city on September 20th, 1882.Discovered as a sea resort by the end of the 19th century, it gained great reputation in the 1920‘s and 1930‘s. The city had the portuguese nickname of Rainha das Praias which means "Queen of the Beaches".
Aveiro is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 200.0 km² and a total population of 73,521 inhabitants.
The municipality is composed of 14 parishes, and is located in the District of Aveiro.
The present Mayor is Alberto Afonso Souto Miranda (Socialist) and the President of the Municipal Assembly is Carlos Manuel da Costa Candal (Socialist).
The municipal holiday is the second May 12.
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