Mala

Mala is a civil parish in the municipality of Aveiro, in the Aveiro district, situated in the flat agricultural terrain of the lower Vouga basin south of the city of Aveiro. The name is an unusual toponym whose origin is unclear, though it may derive from an archaic place name or personal name.

The locality occupies flat, intensively cultivated land in the coastal lowland corridor, with cereal and vegetable fields, irrigation channels, and the occasional windbreak of eucalyptus or poplar. The proximity to the Aveiro lagoon system (Ria de Aveiro) gives the landscape a slightly maritime quality.

For pilgrims on the Camino Português, Mala falls on the flat approach to Aveiro, where the route crosses the lowland plain before the city and its famous lagoon.