The Old Town was alive for Carnival last night – with a parade of more than 1,500 people. Unusually for Spain, it started bang on time at 9:30pm, with 78 groups and a dozen individuals dressed in a variety of eye-catching outfits, marching down the length of the Avenida Ruzafa and finishing at the town hall square.

Many of the outfits were hand-made with peacocks, harlequins, bubble blowers, spiders, golden suns and even Black face - no one bats an eyelid here. There were cash prizes for the best judged group – winning €1,000 and individual awarded €300. The roadside was lined with cheering spectators and the requisite loudspeakers pumped out music that even made the pavements vibrate!

Once the parade had finished it was party time – where a variety of live DJ’s kept the party going in the tent under the town hall building, which went on well into the early hours of the morning. I bet there were a few sore heads this morning!