I missed last year´s, but I wasn´t going to let this year´s Carnival parade escape.
February is carnival time all over Spain, the most famous ones being those of Cadiz and Tenerife. Good old Torrevieja isn´t missing out as far as any festival is concerned. They do a tapas tour, flower offering to the Virgin Mary, they celebrated the arrival of the Three Kings by boat and Easter will see a lot of festivities too.
Carnival in Torrevieja sees more than just one day of colourful parades. The cofradias and comparsas compete during three days, a day parade, a night parade, a carnival for kids and the queen has also already been crowned.
Yesterday´s event was the day parade, starting at 4.30 pm (or thereabouts) and culminating in the awards ceremony in the plaza opposite the Town Hall and Church. Along Ramon Gallud, there were walking, plenty of chairs thoughtfully provided , music livening things up.
I made my way to Ramon Gallud, prepared to wait. Luckily, the sun was shining, but it was bitter cold and, still suffering from a terrible cold I caught when I visited the Medieval Market in Orihuela, I started getting uncomfortable and, much to my regret, decided to pack it in and go home.
But, as is so often the case, the travel Gods were with me. I live close to Playa de los Locos in Avenida de las Habaneras and I was half way home when, to my right, I heard music and saw the sun glinting off a lot of gold. I turned towards it and, totally unexpectedly, had come upon the point where all the participants were gathering and lining up for the parade.
Surprisingly few spectators were around and I could freely move among them. It was like an open air dressing room, as the girls and guys were putting the final touches to their make up and costumes out of carrier bags and warming up with coffee and drinks piled onto makeshift tables.
They were only too happy to pose for photos, valiantly hiding their goose bumps behind broad smiles. I chatted to them, asked about their cofradias and even helped one guy to fix his false eyelashes which were coming off.
This was a far better and really close up carnival experience than I could ever have had among the crowd lining the street.