More than 40 municipalities throughout the country staged processions, many of which had subtle political undertones, inspired by everything from Donald Trump’s US presidency, to Portugal’s latest word-of-the-year, ‘Geringonça’ (Contraption).
The main parades were held on Sunday and Tuesday, although with most of the country’s workers having a day off on Tuesday – Carnival is, after all, an unofficial Bank Holiday – the festivities started on Friday and stretched over the weekend, well into the start of the new week.
Some spots of rain fell on northern and central Portugal over the weekend, but did little to dampen the spirits of Carnival-goers, and Tuesday was a bright and mild affair.
Average hotel occupancy in the north was at 80 percent over Carnival, and slightly higher in the main cities of Porto and Gaia.
Arcos de Valdevez (Ovar) put on its self-proclaimed ‘Biggest Carnival parade in Northern Portugal’, while down in the Algarve the city of Loulé, home to the oldest carnival in the country, boasted a parade of 14 floats and several hundred dancers.