The biggest annual city-sponsored party in Porto is Festa de São João or St. John (the Baptist) Day. It takes place on the eve of June 23 with much fanfare, including fireworks, concerts, paper lanterns, and people hitting each other over the head with squeaky plastic hammers. (This video of the celebrations in 2014 is a good overview of the festival.) The city starts decorating around the beginning of June, and the decorations stay up for at least a week past São João, depending on the neighbourhood. Long enough for me to photograph some decorated streets a few days ago when I took a couple of visiting Canadians around town.
The first two photos in this post were taken along Rua das Flores, and the rest were shot in the neighbourhood of Vitória, which was especially colourful. Viva a festa!
June 28, 2016
Album: Portugal [Summer 2016]
