Festas de Santo António

Antony of Padua was born in Lisbon around 1195 and is the city's popular patron, and the night of 12 June is when Lisbon behaves least like a capital. The old quarters - Alfama, Mouraria, Graça, Bica, Madragoa - hang paper decorations across the streets, put grills out on the pavement and cook sardines by the tonne, with beer, caldo verde and bifanas alongside and music in every small square until dawn. On the Avenida da Liberdade the marchas populares are staged: each neighbourhood fields a group with costumes, a song and a choreographed march, competing formally, and it is televised. Antony is invoked as a matchmaker, so people give manjerico pots - small basil plants with a paper verse stuck in them - and the city holds the Casamentos de Santo António, a mass wedding of couples chosen by the council and married together on 12 June.

What you actually see

• The sardine grills - pavement cooking through the old quarters on the night of 12 June.
• The marchas populares - neighbourhood groups competing on the Avenida da Liberdade.
• The manjerico - basil pots with verses given as tokens.
• The mass weddings - couples married together by the city on the saint's day.

When to go

12 and 13 June for the peak, with events through the month. An evening, starting late - the quarters do not fill until after ten.

Honest expectations

Enormous crowds in narrow streets, heavy drinking and smoke from hundreds of grills. Public transport is overwhelmed and taxis are impossible late. Pickpocketing rises sharply. Accommodation prices spike across the city.

Nearby

Alfama and Mouraria are the heart of it; the Avenida da Liberdade hosts the marches.