Ex Pats: Graham Denby’s tales from Portugal

Oct 14 2009 by Graham Denby

AUGUST was general holiday time in Portugal and the Alentejo and for those who don’t get away, many of the villages featured quite a number of events.

The local council (Camara) appear to fund these to a great extent and no-one misses out.

Event number one was held in Silves, which is a large town, for our neck of the woods anyway, to the South which boasts a most imposing Moorish fort on the hilltop and a large church overlooking the town below.

This year’s featured attraction was a large medieval market and fair. This event was epic, featuring hundreds of stalls all along the streets around the town and up to the fort and nightly events and demonstrations.

It’s similar in mood and feel to the Facal we visited in June, but all the stallholders and quite a number of the locals dress up in medieval and traditional costumes for the event.

The fair has a great atmosphere of fun and there’s plenty of food and drinks to replenish the energies of the footsloggers! There are different sorts of music from bands to flute players, guitarists etc. The picture shows a Steeleye Span tribute band playing on the church steps – or was it The Worzels on tour!

Another village just at the back of us is Santa Clara-a-Nova. This is relatively new and was built to re-house the residents of the old Santa Clara village because now that area is Santa Clara lake, which besides being a local beauty/fun spot is a feeder reservoir for The Algarve and the ever-growing demand for water there!