The city of Aveiro is compact yet important, with wealthy foundations in the industries of fisheries and salt. The bright white cobblestones of the town’s historical centre evoke its economic history: rock salt crystals with darker cobbled nautical motifs (anchors, rope, fishes). Tiled walls in blue (azulejos) are both practical in the salty air and signal sea. Broad salt pans nearby bless the air with a refreshing sea breeze, the Portuguese equivalent of the ‘Fremantle doctor’. The bright, white light is almost Western Australian in quality.

Aveiro has a spacious modern university built on flat land reclaimed from the salt pans, an easy walk from medieval downtown. Its library complex is the work of Portugal’s famous contemporary architect Alvaro Siza Vieira, and its buildings are framed by elegant avenues of Canary Island Palms (Phoenix canariensis). What brought us to this gracious campus?