Don't stop the carnival...

The last blog post concluded with a nod to some forgotten giants of Geordie pop, so why not start this one with another. A pub quiz question -  Who had a top twenty hit in February 1968 with a calypso inspired song called 'Don't stop the carnival'?  The answer - as anyone aged over 60 born south of the Tweed and north of the Tees will tell you is... the Alan Price Set, whose leader happened to be the former bluesy keyboard player from the Animals, who have to be the second greatest band ever from Geordieland.

So why does any of this matter to us parked as we are in a dreadful campsite on the outskirts of Sesimbre on a sunny Sunday at the end of February? Because it is the town's carnival that has drawn us here. There are three major Brazilian inspired Mardi Gras carnivals in Portugal, Loule, Torre Vedra and Sesimbre. We decided that the latter was the one for us, partly because Sesimbre is an attractive seaside town with a mild climate, but also we knew the municipal campsite is walkable from the town centre making it ideal to be able to watch the parade then get back to the van afterwards.

The question we asked ourselves, would the event go ahead or be cancelled due to Portugal's Covid restrictions? It could go either way. With all the the singing, dancing and extreme bonhomie on the streets you might see it as a perfectly designed super-spreader event.  Conversely, what is the difference between a football match and a carnival? If it is acceptable for 40,000 fans to pack into Sporting's stadium to watch them play Porto then surely a carnival is no different in terms of outdoor social mixing. That certainly seemed to be the position when I checked Sesimbre town's website before we set off in January. 

So we planned our trip to make 'terça-feira gorda' the focal point of the trip, aiming to spend a few days up to Shrove Tuesday in Sesimbre to watch the street celebrations.

There then followed a number of confusing exchanges regarding the event. While we were staying in Isla Cristina I emailed the Sesimbre tourist office explaining that I wanted to come for the carnival and asked whether it would it be necessary to book a pitch at the town's municipal camping site. After a few days I received a one line reply informing me the site was closed until further notice, there was no mention of the carnival, so I took that as an affirmation of the information on-line. 

Though unlisted by either ACSI or Searchforsites I came across another site on the fringes of Sesimbre about 1km. down a minor road but within walkable distance from the main bus route into town. The reviews for Camping Valbom on Google were scathing but it seemed the only option. The road to it on streetview looked rough but doable, and most importantly not too narrow. No need to book was the reply to my email, or more precisely - "The camping area does not have limited spaces, so its occupation is done by order of arrival."

So we carried on with our plans. Two days before we were due to arrive, though the main Sesimbre town's website remained emblazoned with information about the delights of their annual carnival, a linked Facebook page kept by the local council posted  a gnomic message saying that this year's carnival had been 'adapted' and they hoped that next year there would be a chance to see a  procession  by the beach. 

Having been entirely confused by ambiguous messages on-line I hoped local knowledge would clarify matters. On our arrival the receptionist at Camping Valbom informed us confidently that all carnival events were cancelled this year; her colleague who came to open the side gate to let us in, asserted that everything was happening as normal and it would be best to catch the bus into town early, by about 9.00am. as transport would become impossibly busy any later than that.  I was disinclined to trust either of them, though if pushed probably would have  gone with the guy's information because he was the spitting image of Pep Guadiola, and he is always right about everything.

The only thing to do was to go and see, but not at 9.00am. We managed to catch the 11.25am bus, despite it being a 20 minute walk to the bus stop. This counts as perky by our standards these days. 

The quality of the site may be lamentable but the location is pretty and the road to the bustop passed through a lightly wooded area covered with blossoming ginestre bushes. 

I don't think the area will remain so undeveloped for much longer, an estate of stylish looking houses and apartments is almost completed. Given the location more must surely follow. 

This is our third visit to Sesimbre, it is a lovely small resort on a south facing coast. Protected by Arrábida massif the place has a micro-climate reminiscent of the Côte d'Azur, in fact it has the look of the Riviera, but not so over-developed.

Contrary to the Pep's long lost brother's prediction there were only half a dozen other passengers on the bus when it turned up. Traffic was heavy and Sesimbre busy, but not heaving. It appears to be the place to go on a Sunday for every guy from Lisbon with a shiny big motorbike. More stylish than Matlock Bath, Gill observed.

We came across a poster advertising 'Carnival 22'. Finally we made sense of what was going on. The parades had been cancelled and replaced by events on an outside stage in a park on the edge of town, about 3km away. We decided to give it a miss. The whole point of a carnival is it feels abandoned and spontaneous, transforming momentarily the polite order of the street into something wilder and slightly indecent. To confine it to a stage would be to tame it. 

We looked for somewhere to have lunch and were delighted to find the Taphouse cafe open. It's a stylish looking place on the roof of a small 'fortezza' by the sea. Both times we have been here previously it has been closed. In Portugal if you turn up at 12.55pm then you almost always will get a table, 10 minutes later you might struggle.

The place specialises in craft beers, something which is still quite niche in Portugal. Gill went for a classic IPA, I decided to try something more unusual - a light ale with a hint of thyme. Both were good, but mine was interesting rather than delicious.

We ordered two 'tostas' but failed to appreciate the why the letters 'XL' had been placed next to them on the menu. In terms of food culture Portugal is not somewhere that embraces minimalism, you are not going to be served a small ceviche of tuna accompanied by a couple of sprigs of greens, a seared sliver of red pepper, five meaningfully placed olives and an artistic brush stroke of tapenade. Hearty is the thing here.  

Our Lonely Planet guide sums this up perfectly in an entry about a restaurant in Obidos:

"The place isn't signed, it just says 'Snack Bar', but if these are snacks, we'd hate to see what they consider a full meal."

The Taphouse is not a  'snack bar', the place is quite stylish, but the tosta's were definitely "XL' , substantial enough to be considered a full meal by Lonely Planet's criteria. 

Afterwards the most we were going to manage was a slow amble. We toddled to the west end of the esplanade, turned around and made our way slowly to the opposite end, like everyone else.

Some people were in fancy dress, entire families dressed as Marvel characters, clowns, cats, all kinds of things, maybe there had been some kind of competition, perhaps it's just a thing people do around carnival time. 

I took a few pictures of the beach and a couple of things I took a liking to, such as the enormous white hotel which looked  late 1970s. I do love twentieth century architecture.

The other thing you find in Portugal are lots of murals depicting everyday life, both past and present. Maybe the tradition goes back to the scenes found on traditional azulos, but transfered to mural painting.

You get a mixture of styles, some realist, but also art-deco idealism and more contemporary comic book inspired graphics.

The bus stop nearest to the campsite was on the main road towards Lisbon, so even on a Sunday there was a regular service. We were back at the van before 5.00pm. 

During the early evening I entertained myself by watching the live stream of the carnival concert that the local council had put on YouTube. I was glad we had decided not to go. In a carnival parade you forgive the amateurism of the musicians and dancers, even their shortcomings can seem charmIng. Placed on stage and videoed their awkwardness becomes more apparent and annoying. I hope we can return here next year at carnival time, somehow I feel we owe it to the place.

Now there is nothing to keep us here and we have a few days to spare before we need to be in Lisbon. Staying here is not really an option, the site is set up for statics, hundreds of them in rows, each a variation of the same setup, ancient caravan with gazebo style sun lounge, outside kitchen with impressive brick BBQ with chimney. Busy at weekends, empty otherwise.

The facilities for tourers are some of the worst we have found on all our travels. The showers especially were memorably dis-functional. Admittedly the water was on the acceptable side of luke-warm, but the heads were either missing (water streamed like a tap) or corroded into strange positions so the water missed you altogether, sprayed down the walls, up to the ceiling or towards the door. Not that there was much of door, I'm average height, and my head and shoulders stuck up over the top, while the bottom of the metal door was a little above my knees; in terms of privacy this was matterless, the bolts were missing anyway. Grim shower block = grumpy Pete. Hopefully Sesimbre's municipal site will be open again if we return next year. It isn't great, very utilitarian, but at least it is functional.

Tomorrow we are heading north to Peniche.I do realise that one important question remains unanswered. If the Animals were the second best band to emerge from the North East, who do I rate as top? Not the obvious candidates, Roxy Music, The Police, Dire Straights are probably the ones  most likely to spring to mind. Personally I would choose Prefab Sprout, England's answer to Steely Dan in my book, sassy arrangements, great playing, clever intelligent lyrics.