Loulé Carnival

​It is drizzling on and off this morning and we debate whether or not we should proceed with our plan to return to Loulé to go to the Carnival.  William says it's up to me.  Faced with the prospect of just hanging around the apartment watching Netflix for the day I finally decide we should chance the weather and go.

We Uber to the Albufeira bus station in a light drizzle.  When we arrive in Loulé at 1 pm it is raining very, very lightly.  We enjoyed the restaurant (Café Q) where we had breakfast on Saturday, so we return.  The manager recognizes us and greets us. Nice!  We enjoy a leisurely meal.

After lunch we walk the eight blocks to the first entrance we see to Carnival where a queue has formed for buying admission tickets.  We notice that this is Bilheteria #1 and decide to look for other ticket booths (and to see a few more streets of Loulé).  We find Bilheteria #3 and pay the 2€ per person admission fee.  Since the Carnival show runs from 3-5:30 pm we still have 20 minutes before they open the gates.  We use the time walking around looking at the food booths and catching glimpses of the Carnival participants as they make their way to the show area.  As we do we notice that the rain has stopped.  Yeah!

After we go through the admission gates we begin to understand the layout.  The street Ruta de Nossa Sra. Da Piedade is a divided road with a park space in the middle.  About eight blocks of the road have been closed for Carnival.

We find a spot on the curb in the park area.  Soon the different performing groups are lining up and we are lucky to have the Brazilian group right in front of us.  The dancers are scantily clad, and two of the dancers are only wearing body paint. It is humorous how Brazil inherited the concept of Carnival from Portugal, turned it into an over-the-top party and now Portugal (at least this group) imitates Brazil.

The floats slowly appear and some of the performers climb aboard, while others remain on the street as the advance entertainment.

Many of the floats are making political commentary.  Duo de Peso depicts Theresa May and Angela Merkel as weight lifters in an arena.  It is a joke on Brexit - who's to dominate Europe?  Trump D' Naifa has a Muslim and a Mexican (threats to the US) throwing knives at Trump.  Bolsonaro pokes fun at the current President of Brazil, and Tourada à Portuguesa (Bullfighting Portuguese) makes a statement about the Portuguese politicians.  Between the 14 floats, their advance entertainment, walking performers, and the public there is plenty of fun.  The parade continues around and around.

By 5:15 pm we have seen everything at least once and it is beginning to drizzle once again.  We start to make our way to the bus station.  Along the way we realize we have plenty of time for a coffee and bathroom stop before we board the 6:40 pm bus.  We pop into a small Mom and Pop bar/cafe.  It is fun to watch the locals, some who have come from Carnival, others who look like this is what they do every night.

​We're home by 7:30 pm, very happy we had the opportunity to experience Loulé Carnival.