There are so many festivals in the small towns all across Portugal during the summer months that you could spend a lifetime trying to experience them all. We chose one this summer to see in the south central part of the country – Alentejo. We went on a week-long road trip with friends in spite of the predicted high temperatures that none of us enjoy. Our main destination was the village of Redondo where they do a festival (festa) called Ruas Floridas. They decorate the streets of the village with elaborate paper flowers, animals, and more. The festa runs for about 10 days and includes concerts nightly and street food. The whole town works to put it together and they all enjoy the party. We expected it to be a bit cheesy, but were actually very impressed with the detail and amount of work required. Fortunately (?), it rarely rains there this time of the year so their hard work is usually safe. Which is also why forest fires are a big problem and why we awoke one morning to find ash on our car from a fire 100 kilometers away.

We drove mostly small back roads on this trip including parts of the N2 (Portugal’s Route 66.)  It’s a great way to discover small, unexpected treasures. We saw an international youth fishing tournament, an old Roman road, marble production, lots of round-a-bout art, an abandoned sanitarium, a beautiful lagoon, castles, stork nests, cork trees, olive trees, vines, and sunflowers. We stayed in some interesting places.