This year’s Loule carnival will be socio-politically themed, “Troikered – The big circus” is its theme and the main Jose da Costa Mealha avenue will be the main staging ground for the floats and fun.

The Loule carnival is one of the oldest such events in Portugal and last year it saw somewhere around sixty thousand visitors during its three days. This year’s carnival will feature seventeen floats and hundreds of dancers and entertainers from samba schools and much more of course.

As has been the case with previous years, the revenue from the ticket sales will be donated to a local charity, so everything stays in Loule. The tickets will cost 2 Euro per person per day to gain access to the main avenue where the parade will start in each of the days from 3PM.

The public is encouraged to get into the spirit of the carnival and to either make or rent fancy dress costumes from the Loule town hall collection. Renting costs are just twelve Euros per costume from a store situated in Loule’s historic city centre that will be open in each of the carnival days, except for the 12^th.

But of course it wouldn’t be a carnival with just a parade every day, so the town hall has also organized several themed balls and parties alongside sporting and cultural events all throughout the municipality, so that as many people as possible can get involved in the fun. For instance, at 10PM on the 9^th of February, the NERA building will host a carnival party with live music and the theme will be ‘Wonderland’ as envisioned in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” – tickets priced at 5 Euro per person.

So if you’re already in the region, use some Algarve car rental services to get a rental car and head on there to see what the whole thing is like.

According to a statement released by the Lagos Town hall, the elevation of Lagos to city status is considered one of the most significant moments in local history because it was a clear recognition of the importance that the port town garnered.

This action led to the headquarters for the governors of the Kingdom of the Algarve to get set up in the city, as a result making it one of the most important locations in the history of the country. The upgrade to city status is also considered to have been crucial in Lagos being the place where the first ships sailed on the voyages of discovery, which in turn opened Europe up to the rest of the world and everything that those brought with them.

Starting with the 24^th of January the Lagos Town Hall is organizing a variety of cultural activities, which aim to promote the local cultural heritage as well as attract some tourists in the winter low-season.

On the 24^th of January the tourist guides and other professionals from the tourism sector will take part in a day-long seminar meant to refresh their knowledge in relation to Lagos’ cultural and archaeological heritage so that they can then better pass on this information onto their visitors.

The activity will be held in Portuguese and is free for tourism professionals  for those who registered to attend until the 21^st of January.

Also on the 24^th a book entitled “Legado do Conde de Ferreira no Algarve” – The Legacy of Count Ferreira in the Algarve – will be launched at the Cultural Centre at 4:30PM.

On the 25^th of January, guide Jose Antonio Martins will be carrying out a free guided tour of the historic centre of Lagos, an activity open to the general public which will take place between 10AM and 1PM.