Not so long ago, I attended school for plumber. The school has opened a project for the education of students in other foreign countries. They were looking for two teams of 16 students, one team would do the education in Germany and the other in Portugal. Lucky for me, in those 32 students, I was also selected for education. I found myself in a group for Portugal, and if I could choose I would choose Portugal. For the reason that it is much further from my country and I don't know if I would ever have another chance to visit Portugal, unlike Germany which is very close to me .I will try my best to share with you my experiences during 10 days in Portugal.
Day 1
The most of our first day we spent by traveling. The first part of our trip was a plane. We started our journey from Zagreb, Croatia. Our plain trip was in two parts. First we flew to Frankfurt, Germany and from there we continued to Porto, Portugal. When we arrived to Porto, there was a bus waiting to bring us to our hotel. Hotel was located in Braga. We settled in the hotel and met people who guided us through this education. The day was long and the trip was exhausting so we went right to our beds.
Day 2
We woke up early in the morning. The plan for that day was to meet Braga. We went to look around and see what the city has to offer. First we went to visit one hill on which is a large promenade. From the top of the hill you could see Braga. It was a beautiful view of the whole city, but unfortunately we were not very lucky because it was raining all the time.
After that we visited The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte. It is Catholic shrine, outside the city of Braga in Tenões.
It was really nice for me to visit such a place because I am a Catholic. The place is full of greenery and beautiful colorful flowers.
Day 3
Third day unfortunately we had to start working. Us sixteen were separated in groups and each group got their own private company where we had to work. We meet bosses and all the people in our company. All of them are very kind and helpfull. It is a company that distributes gas cylinders and installs them in the homes. They also does water installations and pipe burst repairs.
Day 4-8:WORKTIME
We woke up early for our first day at work. Each of us got our own mentor to guide us through the work .Our job most of the time looked like we were leaving in the morning with the van to the address that was agreed and where we need to repair some gas or water leaks. Because we traveled everywhere by van our mentor showed us and told us about the city.
I noticed that all the things they do, they do slowly and without strees unlike us in Croatia. People are smiling and they seem to me to be a very happy nation. Also i noticed that they do some things diffrent in our proffesion then us. My mentor taught me a lot of things and I don’t think I would see any of this things anywhere else, that's one an extraordinary experience.
We spent most of our free time after work talking each others. All groups returned to the hotel, each with their own experiences of the day of work in another country. We exchanged business experiences with each other. Everyone had their own story of their day at work, it was very interesting. Sometimes after a long day of working we went out to city to relex and have some fun. We went to diffrent clubs and bars to learn about their type of nightlife. It's amazing how cheap everything is in Portugal. For exc. a half liter beer of Super Bock (Most popular beer in Portugal) in a bar is around 70 cents!
Day 9
The weekend has finally come, it was meant only for travel and adventure. After the breakfest in our hotel we went to Lisabon. Lisbon is a very big city and special in its own way. There is a lot of thing to visit, it is impossible to visit everything in a short time. The only bad thing about Lisabon that i have noticed is that there is too many people on the streets and squares. It's almost impossible to walk on the streets.
We managed to visit Jerónimos Monastery. The monastery is near the Tagus river in Lisabon. It was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery is a large building, but very beautiful. The existing building was built by Manuel I. to mark the successful return of Vasco de Game from India.
The monastery became a place of prayer for all sailors who came to that port.
Near the monastery is the Belém Tower. It is a beautiful little castle on the Tagus River. The castle was built for the purpose of an additional defense system, at the entrance in Lisbon from the river side. He is one of the best examples of the original Portuguese late Gothic Manueline style of architecture. It is really beautiful and I was very glad to see such a beautiful castle on the river.
After we visited Lisabon we went in the famous Sanctuary of Fátima. Fatima is a small town located in the municipality of Ourém in Portugal. Fatima is the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in Portugal and one of the most important in the world. We toured the entire shrine and the feeling was amazing. It was pleasant and nice to pray in such a place.
Our turist guide told us and interesting thing about the sanctuary. In the center of the sanctuary was a path that in the past people was using for the redemption of their sins. They had to cross that path on their knees. I can't even imagine what pain it is.
Day 10
That was our last day in Portugal. We intended it for a quick tour of Porto and for returning home. We packed all our things in bags and it was time to leave the hotel. In the morning it was obvious to everyone that they were a little sad that it was our last day in Portugal. We got on the bus and headed towards our last destination, the city of Porto. Porto is located on the Douro River in the northern Portuguese region of Norte. It is the second largest city in Portugal. The city is very famous for his wine. They have a very tasty wine and whatever you choose you will not regret it. Here are some of my best pictures from Porto.
The time is come for homecoming. We had to go to the airport. In the bus, everyone had their heads down and sadness was felt in the air, but on the other hand, we were all glad to go to our house and see our loved ones.
I think this trip gave me a lot of motivation for my job, but also that I gained a lot of experience. I am glad that I managed to visit the beauties of this country as much as I could, but also that I gained new acquaintances. This was an unforgettable experience of educating students in another state. I can only thank the school for being able to accomplish this great project and that they chose me.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 39.537678 lat -8.578932 long d3scr) All photos are taken by me ~