My Experience In Portugal

 

This is Panos again writing  from Portimão Portugal. My experience in the country so far has been amazing. Since I was studying in Barcelona during the previous semester, I decided to fly straight to Portugal a few days before the beginning of my work placement in Portimão and explore the country´s capital city Lisbon. This is my first-time visiting Portugal and I wasn´t sure what to expect, but Lisbon definitely exceeded my expectations. The city has a population of half a million people and is full of life all year round. It is a quite popular city and attracts a lot of tourists, even in quiet months like January and February. Because the city relies on tourism, the level of English fluency is very good and people are very open and friendly. There are many points of interest to visit such as the earthquake museum, the coach museum, the statue of Christ, the tower of Belem and monasteries. Portugal is the place that gave birth to the famous dessert Pastel De Nata. A delicious puff pastry-based baked custard that it is found in most bakeries and has many different variations. Naturally, that was the very first thing I tried on my first day out.

Pastel de nata

 Since my place of work is in Portimão, I had to take the bus there. It was a three-and-a-half-hour trip but it gave me the opportunity to observe the landscape of Portugal so I enjoyed it a lot. Portimão is a small city that is found in the Algarve region. It has a population of 55.000 people but according to the people I have spoken to, that number exceeds 250.000 people during the tourist season. Because the city has to rely on tourism, there are plenty of restaurants, bars and travel agencies in the city. Most of them hibernating and waiting for the tourist season to begin. My first week at Numa restaurant was very interesting. I spent a lot of time observing what my senior chefs are doing and learning about the menu and the ethos of the restaurant. My first real day at work was on Valentines-day where I was responsible for the starters and snacks during service. We were fully-booked and we were very busy but we worked well and didn´t feel under pressure. I really enjoyed it and I am I can´t wait for more.

                                                                Scallop tartar (lime, orange, avocado)

                                                                Melosa pudding (cinnamon, tangerine, basil) 

Until the next time….