Every year since 1996, the town of Santa Maria da Feira hosts what has become one of the biggest events in Europe of medieval recreation. So much so that the organization has named it a “Medieval Journey”, instead of the plain old Medieval Fair: once you get into the historical part of the town, you truly travel back in time.
Everyone dresses up, even the building and shops outside the historical area. You truly get a feeling of community from both the locals & all the tourists. It is one gigantic party.
You have phenomenal street performers, musicians, big-scale battle reenactments and – more importantly – meat being cooked until long past 2am.
Along the historical centre you can find endless stands of merchants, artisans, blacksmiths, bakers and liqueur sellers – without neglecting the many witches who will tell you your fate for a coin or two.
The number of people attending is absolutely overwhelming and everyone is in a good mood – at one point, I saw a Pope, a Jester, an Arab and Snow White dancing to the sound of António Variações.
As I left with a few hundred photos, I’ve decided to organize the best ones under the Portfolio section, which all you lovely folks can have a look at here.
Isidora Works 