Hey hey hey my dear readers 😁😁😁. I'm super excited about this post and that's because I have awesome new stuff to share with you all! And just in time for the 1 year celebration of #ThreeTuneTuesday 😍😍😍! First of all let's congratulate @ablaze for starting and expanding this little community that allowed us to connect not only with music but also with each other ❣️ On top of the amazing tunes shared every week, connecting with other fellow #TTT posters are just priceless ❤️ Thank you all!

If you have been following my #TTT posts, then you know last week I said I would be attending an Islamic Festival during the weekend and..... - what an adventure! (note to self - and still recovering... 😅). Therefore, in this post I'm going to talk a little bit about the highlights of my weekend and then I'm gonna share 3 different artists/bands I met during this Festival (note to self - what a rush!!! I missed it so much).

Dear reader, in this post there will be more photos than usual, so follow me! Let's head south to a little Portugal village called Mértola. 😁

What do you think about the view from the castle tower? 😍

For those of you who don't know, Three Tune Tuesday was created by @ablaze and as he explains 👇

The jist is as follows

Every Tuesday I'm going to share 3 songs which I like to listen to and I invite your feedback in the comments below. Better still, why not have a blast of your own Three Tune Tuesday and mention me in the post and I'll come and find the post and upvote it. It'll be a sweet way for us all to discover new music. You'll also be in with a chance of winning a prize.

With that being said, Mértola is a small village located in the south interior area of Portugal with just 6205 local population and is known for its hot weather, a castle and a local mine where they used to extract gold _Source . The Islamic Festival happens every two years and is the most important event to the village both for the local economy as well as tourism promotion. It is sort of a valley, with the Guadiana river at the bottom and a castle on the top. In between we have a few houses as you can see in the photo 😁

First let me tell you something about me, dear reader... I do not like too much heat! My body can't sustain it very well, my blood pressure drops really low and I get really fussy and low energy. My boyfriend is just the opposite. He loves warm weather - the hotter the better for him. I'm the cold one in the relationship 😎😎

So, going on with this adventure, me and my boyfriend arrived at Mértola on friday at about 14:30. The thermometer marked 38ºC but I didn't need to check. As soon as we got out of the car I immediately thought I would pass out 😂😂😂. My boyfriend was happy, arms stretched embracing the warm 😅. You get the picture, dear reader! Luckly, we had an amazing lunch followed with some icy cold white wine (note to self - oh did that felt good!) 😋😋😋.

This is a local dish called barriga de atum - tuna belly. It's from a part of the tuna that it's really yummy 😋😋😋! My favourite actually, not as dry as tuna steak. This reminds me - @blanchy you can find this dish in Vilamoura when you go on vacation, I highly recommend 😉!!

After lunch, my body adjusted better to the extreme heat so it was time to get to the Festival area. The centre of the Festival had a little market - called Souk, full of colours and smells from different spices 😁. Which I bought - a few 😍, and I told the merchant who sold them to me that when I grew up I wanted to have a shelf of spices just like this ❣️ It's just so damn beautiful!

There were 4 different outdoor rooms full of activities throughout the day, from concerts to workshops teaching how to play some instruments and even how to work with clay. The Souk was covered by colourful blankets, providing a small shade and a bit of refreshment (note to self - thankfully! I was dying here guys!)

The streets were full of people walking by, kids dressed up really cute with traditional islamic clothes and props, entertainers doing belly dance, playing different instruments all over the place in these narrow streets. I thought about joining in the fun and getting a fully immersive islamic experience so I bought myself some props and a beautiful traditional robe. It was actually much better to deal with the heat even covering my whole body. I felt free and light (note to self - OK YES! I felt like a Disney princess 😆)!

By this time we were heading up to the castle to see a concert from a portuguese group called Raia. They were my favourite tunes of the weekend but sadly I wasn't able to find any songs on Youtube or elsewhere! I will have to do some more digging in the meanwhile... But rest assured dear reader! I think the tunes today won't disappoint you anyway. So, going up we went to a place that was sort of a mix between church and mosque. The ceiling was just mesmerising 😍

Later that day there were 2 more concerts at night and I was so tired that I went to the car to crash at about 2 am while my friends and boyfriend enjoyed the night a little while longer. Don't judge, they are way tougher than me 😂😂😂. I forgot how exhausting Festivals can be! Walking up and down all day and dancing all night has its effects (note to self - let's not mention the drinking part) 😅. However, the sunset from the castle really makes it all worth it ❤️.

Saturday was more or less the same, walking around visiting places and doing workshops, watching concerts and partying hard all night! Only this time I was with much more energy (note to self - the weather was cooler as well 😆). All I can say is that it was magical! There was time for everything, even for a bit of romance ❣️

Now... Are you ready for the tunes dear reader? Let's go!

1 - Trio Alcatifa - Água da Fonte