This is the biggest festival on the Porto calendar, and one of Europe's liveliest street parties. There is a religious element to the festival, but it is first and foremost a huge party that attracts people from all over the country to Porto's old town centre - a UNESCO World Heritage Site that makes a stunning background for the revelries. Loud music pumps up from huge amplifiers set up on the main square, the smell of sardines being grilled on makeshift barbecues fills the streets, lit up balloons eerily go up in the summer evening sky, and boats ply the river with their loads of merry locals and tourists keen to get the best spot for the main event - the spectacular firework display. Afterwards revellers take to the narrow streets of the old town armed with plastic hammers and wild garlic stalks, banging each other on the head - a tradition whose origins nobody seems to remember, but which is fervently continued every year. The centre of the action then shifts to the beaches on the Douro estuary for a beach party that usually lasts well into the early hours.
in World Events Guide
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