It was the turns of the Moors parade last night which started according to Spanish time keeping - late! The 8pm publicised start was actually nearer to 9pm, but then I should think that people would probably have been more surprised if it had been on time. The delay intensified peoples excitement and once the procession began it was certainly worth the wait.

The detail of the painted faces was absolutely stunning - it must have taken hours to paint so many exactly the same for each of the groups.

Many of these costumes came from a supplier in Alcoy - which is where the biggest Moors and Christians parade takes place. In fact, the date for next year has already been released - 2nd to 5th May 2014. As the groups reached the finish point the first thing which they all did was take off their head gear - and I can understand why when I tried one on. They are extremely heavy - and very very hot as they are lined with sponge to make them more comfortable to wear.

The group I spoke to told me that the cost of the hire was 100 euros for the evening - that may sound a lot, well actually it is, but they were delivered from Alcoy and afterwards have to be collected and all cleaned. Alcoy is about 100 km away from Altea so it´s quite a distance.

Many of the costumes had long trains on them and they walked along the entire route basically sweeping the street, so they will take rather a lot of scrubbing I should think! Looking at the amount there were, it will take them the best part of a year to get them all ready again for the next parade!