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Published: February 12th 2008
Carnival Float
I loved the colors!We made two trips to Loule last week. The town is the largest in the interior of the Algarve (between the sea and the mountains) and is known as a great market town. Our first trip, however, was to go to their Carnaval! They have the largest carnival celebration in Portugal with a parade of 17 floats. The parade was around and around the same four long blocks in town where the street is separated by a wide plaza. All the floats had sound systems that were blaring Brazilian music and there was one Portuguese band that was playing as loudly as the could. The noise was just wild. There were people on all the floats dancing, and there were feathered dancers in the parade.
The crowds were as much fun to watch as the parade. Very elderly people were enscounsed on park benches lining the plazas and people were really considerate about not stepping in front of them to block their views. Little to middle-sized children dressed in colorful costumes ranging from princes and princesses to witches and aliens. Teenagers walked around dressed mostly in black with their faces painted in hideous colors and designs. Everyone was into it.
Carnival Dancers
I´ve never seen so many feathers. The people on the floats were throwing wrapped candies into the crowds and everyone dove to the ground to get as many as they could. Even an old man walking by on two canes managed to get one arm down far enough to scoop up a few. It was the loud music that finally wore me out and we left after an hour. What fun.
We went back on Saturday to attend their Gypsy Market. What an incredible amount of stuff! They had hundreds of items for sale ranging from shoes to tablecloths. I´d like to know where they get their inventory. Most things are prepackaged in cellophane wrapping so they´re coming from some mass marketer. The minute you stop at a table to look at something, the salesman (or woman) is all over you. Even if you´ve indicated you´d like to buy an item, they keep showing you more, and more. You simply have to finally walk away. But I did buy a neckscarf and a tablecloth for ridiculously low prices. The quality looks decent, buy I can´t be surprised if either falls apart after the first washing.
The Gypsy Market was set up just outside of
Carnival Costumes
Isn´t she just adorable? town, so we had to walk a ways to get out there and back. The town´s regular market is near the square and is huge. It is open every day in a beautiful building of Moorish design. Here you find the more traditional market things like produce and handmade crafts. Walking between the two markets is a street of shops that put a lot of their merchandise out on the street to catch some of the traffic that comes through. So much opportunity to shop--so little time! To my friends who know me as a shopper, it is certainly difficult to be limited in your purchases by the size of your suitcase!
One final note about Loule: we found the best restaurante a couple of blocks from the square. It is totally Potuguese and they serve great soups and meat dishes. It´s called O Beco and was listed in one of our guidebooks. Don had a wonderful pork dish and I had a delicious soup. We ordered everything in Portuguese, then the couple next to us teased us about our accents! They grew up around Loule but have been living in Australia for thirty years. They come back every
Gypsy Market
Piles of stuff for sale. year for Carnaval and to see family.
More later.................
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