Every year, in June, the Popular Saints fests returns to Portugal. Parties, camps and many other initiatives fill villages, towns and cities with people. But it is in Lisbon that the main celebrations take place. On June 13, Saint Anthony’s Day, the Popular Marches, one for each neighbourhood in the capital goes to the incomparable Liberdade Avenue, between Marquês de Pombal Square and Rossio Square. It’s a spectacle of lights and colours, music and singing in the magical night of Lisbon, with hundreds of artists and thousands of people watching from the sides of the avenue, but also getting lost in the animation of the old town’s neighbourhoods. The night seems endless. The «Caldo Verde» (a soup) and the roasted sardines reappear as gastronomic icons of places marked by history and where basils reigns that night. Alfama, Bica, Graça, Madragoa or Mouraria are neighbourhoods where the night can be truly unforgettable. But there is more in the city, which is transformed to evoke the figure of Saint Anthony in an atmosphere of unrestrained joy. Born in Alfama more than eight centuries ago, Saint Anthony of Lisbon has his procession during the day, leaving the church with his name, near the Cathedral, to the streets of the part of the city that have a view of the castle. An event of faith and devotion, also marked by the unforgettable beauty of colors.
