April 18, Funchal. We spent the rest of this day watching the flower parade, the highlight of the Funchal Flower Festival. Vehicles with fantastic creations covered with flowers, dancing people in beautiful flower inspired dresses, booming music and a huge crowd of spectators along the parade road. Here are a few pictures with just a fraction of what passed in front of us.
Children are an important theme in the parade, although you can sometimes hardly see them behind the flowers. Note that the experienced mummy’s chained the dummy.
We were standing at the begining of the parade route where the children were still happy and laughing.
Here comes a humungous basket rolling with flowers and children.
Flowers, flowers, children, children.
An official in a high position.
One of the great tourist attractions in Funchal is to ride in one of these sleighs on the asphalt road all the way from Monte way up on the hillside and down to Funchal. Two men dressed in white are standing on the rear of the sleigh, manoeuvring it with their shoes. Here is a YouTube clip from such a ride.
Another magnificent creation. Huge flowers made of huge quantities of flowers.
