Crossing the square on our way back to the hotel, we were in for a surprise - apparently the town had literally spilled out into the streets. It was 10 p.m. and the pastelarias and coffee shops were humming with activity. Hundreds of people jammed the churches, (one stood at every street corner) and the air was full of gaiety and the air redolent of freshly baking pastries. Confused, we approached 2 polizio, who seemed to be almost apologetic that they were in uniform in the middle of all this revelry, and asked what the commotion was about. From what was their polite explanation in Portuguese, we surmised it to be that the people evidently realized they had a good stretch of holidays ahead of them, and hence were out celebrating the long week-end. Good Friday certainly wasn't the mournful and quiet day that I was brought up to observe!