Regular readers will know that Loulé Carnival is one of our must-see events of the Algarve calendar .. we absolutely love the colour, music, vibrancy and spectacle that makes up Carnival each year – and Loulé is the place to go!
The flags were flying and Loulé was buzzing as we arrived for the first day of the event – and we have never seen so many people lining the streets waiting for the floats to appear, having paid an extremely reasonable 2€ entry fee …
We lost count of the number of floats that passed us by .. many had a political theme, and ranged from the small statement…
to the politically topical Trump:
being fired out of a cannon by Putin:
watch out for those weapons!
The music is almost deafening at times – drummers, dancers and stilt-walkers, unicycles, and floats all pass by in a crescendo of colour and sounds:
The floats are a riot of colours and detail – we can’t even imagine how many hours have gone into making these beautifully themed floats:
And costumes – we loved the elephant!
Although it’s fair to say that some outfits were more revealing than others!
It’s always lovely to see how many of the crowd – especially children – also dress up for the event:
And that children of all ages are there to enjoy the parade – and the showers of confetti and streamers that descend all around them.
We loved capturing this older gent enjoying the sights from inside a first floor window above the street:
And these lovely ladies enjoying the parade through their Venetian masks:
And naturally the photographer was in his element today – here’s a rare shot for you of Dave in action:
Of course all the best shots this year are Dave’s .. so we’ll hand over to him now and share some of his favourite shots from the day here for you .. and there are even more shots for you to see in the gallery at the end of the post for you.
You can catch the Loulé Carnival again this year on Sunday 26th and Tuesday 28th February at 3pm.
Click on any of the images here to start the slideshow:
Thank you for viewing our post – and feel free to share it! (If anyone is captured here and would like a copy of their image – minus our logo – please just ask – no charge of course.)
Algarve Blog 
It all looks wonderfully familiar, though we missed it this year (heading to Florence later today 🙂 ). Was the weather good? Just got to love the elephant, and I love all the kids too. Great pics from Dave!
thanks Jo – yes there were some clouds when we arrived but no rain! it was perfect really not too hot … and very busy!
Fab photos as usual – why aren’t carnivals in the UK as colourful as this? Very well captured – love it. Might have to put this in the diary!
thank you! praise indeed from a fellow photographer! I think our ‘health and safety’ laws are a tad more relaxed over here!!!!! 😉
Brilliant: I soooo want to go there! And Dave’s photos – out of this world!
thank you so much Mike! hop on a flight it’s on again on Tuesday! 😉
I would like to have an adventure like this festival. Fun Fun Fun and alot of interesting knowledge being learned about the culture.
thank you – yes it was great fun!
You are welcome. Nothing like great fun at the festival 😀
It looks a great Carnival and will be a ‘must see’ in the diary when I find a house and move to the Algarve. Great photos Dave and the photo of you too. You haven’t changed a bit !! LOL !!
thank you Carol – there are lots of fab events out here to enjoy !
Fabulous photo’s our first time at Loule, loved it and the band would love the English version of the song if possible, it was so much fun. Hope we can come back
glad you enjoyed it! there is so much music played there it would be difficult to find out what it was .. maybe it will have to remain in Portuguese and add to your memories of the day.
Hi Alyson and Dave,
I really like your blog with and the pictures are fantastic. I have shared it in a post on my facebooksite. Hope the Carnaval this year will be just as nice!
Have a nice weekend,
Carla
thank you Carla that is very kind of you – we are really looking forward to this year’s Carnival – expect lots more photos from there this year!