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From the Algarve – August 07

July was a busy month for the pleasure seekers of Sao Bras. We kicked off with a folk music festival featuring five local Folklorica groups from the Algarve, and one from Argentina composed of descendants of Portuguese emigrants.

Then there was the International Motor Cycle Rally down the road in Faro which ended with the now traditional Sunday morning procession through the town. Among the thousands of bikes from Greece, Norway, Germany, France, the UK and Portugal, honking and roaring along roads jammed with spectators, there was a biker who had converted his machine into a travelling bath, a deck chair with sunshade above with none of the controls visible, a conventional bike with a carrier to one side for a very large calm Labrador, and the usual family bikes with mum, dad, a child behind, another on the tank, and once, a third infant squeezed in between M&D. Numbers were down this year , only 25,000 bikers turned up

In the middle of the month there was the Arte Viva festival in the grounds of the local museum with sculpture, painting, weaving and, jewellery exhibitions, live music ranging from 20’s jazz to mournful Fado, plus food and beer from all over Europe.

At the end of the month there was the Ferra De Serra, originally a project by the local Council to encourage artisans from the hill villages to display basket weaving, toy making, pottery, metal work, and their local crafts. It is now a massive three-day event with some hundreds of stalls, five open-air restaurants, and a concert arena for more live music and dancing. There’s a children’s section with clowns and face painting, and an equestrian section with displays by highly skilled horsemen and women. It all takes place in the grounds of a secondary school named after a famous local poet. It all finishes about 2a.m.

A few days later I was in a local bar where a group of ex.pats were not exactly crying into their beers, but being very miserable, because ‘nothing ever happens in this town’.