Saturday 2^nd February – Vilamoura (Carnaval de Quarteira)

37:04.567N 8:07.191W

Today was forecast to be overcast with showers but fortunately the showers did not appear during the daylight hours and, although overcast for part of the day, it was really quite nice – it rained a little over night and then it rained a little after dark this evening, but we’re happy with that.

This afternoon we cycled over to Quarteira for ‘Carnaval’ (another reason we were so pleased that the promised showers didn’t arrive).  Bizarrely the parade started with a rally of Citroen 2CVs of all ages doing a drive past. However, there then followed an impressive number of floats and people in costume in the main parade – the whole town seemed to be involved. The motorised shopping trolley was particularly notable.

The final float was a singer with a group of rather skimpily clad young ladies who had travelled all the way from Brazil according to my interpretation of the poster on the float (so they could have been from anywhere I guess, given my linguistic skills). I’ve got to the age where I just thought they looked cold!  And indeed we were there at the end of the event and I saw them get off the float and immediately pout a coat on, so I guess I was right.

Richard tells me that carnival is celebrated across the Algarve and deeply rooted in tradition; it is tied to Mardi Gras, always ending on Shrove Tuesday (and so I’m looking forward to pancakes next week).

Carnaval de Quarteira

© Pyxis 2008