Throughout the summer months, towns and villages across Portugal hold local festivals (festas.) Most are in honor of favorite saints or religious holidays and include traditions that date back centuries. After two years of canceled festas, they are now back in full force. Together with friends, we decided to do a day trip to Viana do Castelo for their religious festival of Romaria de Senhora d’ Agonia. The event is known for the amazing traditional costumes and jewelry that the women wear. We decided to go see the parade.

By car, Viana do Castelo is less than an hour north of Porto on the coast. We decided to take a regional train rather than rent a car to avoid dealing with parking. We thought we’d have a stress-free visit to a small town festa. The first leg of our train ride was on a sleek AP train with assigned seats. No problem. Two stops later, in Nine, we switched to a regional train where there are no assigned seats. Fortunately, we were early and able to get seats with no problem. By the time several other connecting trains arrived and we left the station, however, it was packed with many people standing. Then we made 12 stops picking up many more festa-goers and cramming them in. We were relieved to get out in the fresh air when we arrived in Viana do Castelo. It was a beautiful day when we arrived at noon, although a little warm.

The town was very busy with people. All the local lunch places were already full so our options were limited, but we still managed to have a great lunch by the river. The main street was lined with grandstands set up for the parade that afternoon. After lunch, we were amazed to see that all the seats in the grandstands were already full over two hours before the parade was to start. The vendors selling parasols to those baking in the sun and plastic or folding seats for the curb-sitters were all doing a booming business. So much for a “small” local festa! By  the time the parade started, the sidewalks were so packed with people that getting through was like swimming through mud. Seeing the event and getting photos was challenging, to say the least. We were surprised by the size of the crowd on a Thursday afternoon. We shouldn’t have been since most of Europe has the month of August off for their ferias (holidays.) Now we know better. Any event any day of the week could be packed.

We saw most of the parade then swam our way back through the throngs of people to the train station for our scheduled trip home. We weren’t the only ones. Even though we arrived 15 minutes early, the train we had tickets for was already so packed full that people were standing in the doorways. And the crowd on the platform waiting for the next train in about an hour was already double the size that a regional train would hold. Lesson learned: Never take a train to an event except with assigned seats. After about an hour, our group was able to get a taxi and an Uber which we took about half-way home to Povoa de Varzim where we could get the metro the rest of the way. We felt so sorry for the hundreds of people still waiting for the trains back in Viana. It wasn’t the relaxing day we had envisioned, but it was an amazing parade to see and a valuable lesson learned.