Festival

I touched on the festival in an earlier posting. The annual festival commences on a Friday and ends on the following monday usually in the second week of August. It is a very busy time for the village with many visitors from Lisbon and the north of Portugal.

A staged area is constructed on the promenade and a show is staged every evening, this year the stage area was not fenced off and whilst you had to pay for a seat or table it was perfectly possible to go along and enjoy the entertainment from a standing position just outside the main audotorium area. The entertainment typically commences about 10-00pm and goes on till around 2-00am. lots of temporary bars are placed along the prom and to say alcohol is so freely and cheaply available it is amazing that drunkeness is almost unheard of at this event, quite a contrast to what would probably happen here in the UK. There were quite a few GNR (portuguese police) in evidence but their primary concern seemed to be ensuring that cylists did not ignore the traffic signs and laws of the road on the otherwise vehicle free streets!!

On the Sunday a solemn mass is held in the little local church after which the statues of christ and the various saints are paraded around the village accompanied by a marching band and what looked like the entire 1500 population plus a good number of excited tourists. The statue of santa Luzia the patron saint of both the village and the now severely depleted fishing fleet is carried cermoniously to the fishermans pier where the fishing boats await decked in ribbons and flowers to be blessed for the coming year. On the return to the church around 8-00pm a display of fireworks signals the end of the religious celebration and everyone gets back to the business of enjoying the festival.