If you've spent any time in Dublin, you may have been to Dublin Castle where they have the annual…read moreSand Sculpture exhibition, and thought to yourself ,'Blimey!! How the hell did they do that?" or "Gosh, that one there reminds me of that bit in that "Mummy Returns" movie!"....either way, you will have been impressed.
Well, Sod that!! Book a flight to South Portugal and go to the Fiesa Sandskulpturenfestival (why is that all one word?). They have a whole village of them, and it is really, seriously impressive! First of all, the theme of the sculptures changes year on year, and when I went there, the theme was "Music", so we spend hours walking around the village looking at sand-drumkits, sand-guitars, sand-pianos, sand-composers, sand-singers.......even sand-Liza Minnelli doing Cabaret!
I also really appreciated the music selection they had on. They had several dozens of speakers around the village piping out a pleasant mix of instrumental chillout in surround sound so you hear different instruments from different speakers with very cool echo reverb......a really nice touch!
If you stay in the Algarve, this place is an absolute must. Some advice; It was about 21 degrees when we went, but it is important that if you go there during the summer, take sunblock, at least 2litres of water 'cus the bus will drop you off for 2 hours and the drinks are expensive at their bar.
