Last night we went to the first night of the Ruas Floridas festival in nearby Redondo. Translated this means ‘the flowered streets’ and we went along not sure what to expect but looking forward to a night out.
We arrived at about 9.oo ish as there was a band on at 10pm and we wanted to have a wander around first.
The town was heaving, I seriously haven’t seen so many people since we have been in Portugal. Families, young and old were all out in force to make the most of their evening out.
I was expecting the streets to be decorated with real flowers but I guess in the height of the Portuguese summer this isn’t practical and instead the streets were decorated with silk and crepe flowers. Each street had a different theme and the amount of work that must have gone into each display was amazing.
We wandered through the crowds taking photo’s and gradually made our way to the main square where the concert was to be aired. A full sized stage stood at one end and we found a spot to await the entrance of ‘Jose Cid’. We had been told that they were a rock band and so were tentatively looking forward to them.
When the band finally came on stage it looked promising with them attired in cut off shorts and t shirts. Then someone came out and put a chandelier on the piano that stood in the middle of the stage. Hmmmmm……..this didn’t have such a rock vibe too it.
Then Jose or Cid or whatever he is called came onto the stage and our hopes of listening to rock covers were shattered. Having obviously styled himself on a cross between Liberace and Elton John he launched into a rousing ‘Euro trash’ style pop song. The scary thing was that the whole crowd were singing along – seems Jose Cid is quite the celebrity in Portugal…..lol. At one point he jumped up and started waving his scarf around before sitting back down again – not sure what that was about but the crowd seemed to love it!!
After about half a dozen songs (that all sounded the same) we retreated to a bar for refreshments and then tried to retrace out tracks back to the car. It was a fun night out and it is always interesting to see another culture at its best. Enjoy the photo’s
The start of the Parque Infantile – the childrens park
The little children seemed a little confused and disappointed that they couldn’t play on the swings!
The displays must have taken hours of man power to create
All the streets had canopied roofs made from crepe flowers.
A wishing well – or pond not sure but lovely all the same
This was my favourite street – hats and handbags!!
Wouldn’t you just love some of these hats?
And finally, Jose Cid – or just plain Cid as I think he is know. Megastar Portuguese rocker, modeled on Liberace and Elton John and judging by the ‘swooning’ going on from some of the ‘older’ ladies in the crowd it would seem sex symbol!!