This weekend marks the start of the fourth ‘Lavrar o Mar’ programme, which promotes several cultural events in the Western Algarve’s inland towns such as Aljezur and Monchique.
The programme will feature events between this October and May 2020, including many new ones but also several returning favourites.
Kicking things off will be ‘Les Princesses’, a circus show that will be taking place at the Espaço Multiusos de Aljezur between this Thursday and Sunday (October 17-20) before moving onto Monchique where it will be held at the E.B. Manuel do Nascimento School between October 24 and 27.
The show, presented by the French circus group Cheptel Aleikoum, promises many laughs but will also “humanise the world of princes and princesses by adapting it to the current day”. Tickets cost €10 for adults and €5 for children up to the age of 11.
The second event will take place on the first three days of November in Monchique and will encourage the public to go outwards and participate in the process of collecting Medronho fruit, used to make the village’s famous Medronho firewater.
Participants are encouraged to bring comfortable clothes and shoes. The five-hour event will feature musical performances, firewater tastings and a light meal. Tickets cost €10.
‘Lavrar o Mar’ returns at the end of November with ‘Por Trás do Bacalhau’, described as a culinary play that will teach people about Portugal’s favourite fish, codfish, and will also feature “an incredible menu featuring soup, a main course, dessert and wine” (cost €10).
The event will be held at the headquarters of the Rancho Folclórico do Rogil in Aljezur between November 28 and December 1 and then at the Casa do Povo de Alferce in Monchique between December 5 and 8.
Bringing the 2019 events to a close will be Monchique’s New Year celebrations which will once again feature a series of circus shows, this time taking place between December 27 and January 5 (excluding December 30 and January 2).
At 6pm, French company Le P’tit Cirk will be presenting its ‘Les Dodos’ show with five acrobats performing to the sound of music, followed by ‘Forever, Happily’ by Belgian group Collectif Malunés that will present different takes on the fairytales that everyone knows such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Little Red Riding Hood.
On New Year’s Eve, there will also be a performance by the new Orquestra Vicentina.
More information on the ‘Lavrar o Mar’ cultural agenda can be found online.
