PATRAS, Greece – Thousands of visitors and Carnival crews will enjoy dancing and singing on Sunday at the main parade at Patras, where the annual event has been held for the past 180 years.

The parade will open at 14.00 and is expected to be concluded at 21:00 at the docks of Aghios Nikolaos, at the old port.

As the number of participants has been steadily increasing in the past few years, the parade takes hours to conclude. This year it is expected to bring more than 40,000 people into the streets of the western port city. Celebrations in Patra start weeks in advance and include balls, parades, hidden treasure hunt and the children’s carnival. The tail of the parade includes the “ chocolate war” floats, made up of various crews with costumes relating to the theme, who will be throwing chocolate to the people watching.