In England many households will have had or will be beginning their usual debate about Twelfth Night and whether or not the Christmas decorations come down tonight or tomorrow. Here in the Algarve it would seem the 6th January is the last day. The Twelve Days of Christmas retain a Christian focus through the presépio in every village and town, and most of them are still open to viewing tomorrow. So if you have not yet seen one you have a day left, and we would certainly recommend spending tomorrow visiting one.
We’ve enjoyed our visits over the past few weeks, and whilst none have been quite as splendid as the Presépio Gigante in Vila Real de Santo António all of the ones we have stumbled across have been delightful and in some cases there is the bonus of entering buildings you cannot normally enter.
We particularly enjoyed the one in Olhão’s library. It is unusual in that it is a personal collection of nativity scenes from around the world. These photographs are of just a few from the collection.
Do hope wherever you were and whatever you were doing this Christmas that it brought as a smile to your face.