Lovely slow start. Coffee and the papers without having to hurry out - our idea of supreme luxury. And plenty of radio and online commentary on he mixed results of yesterday’s election.Toaster and coffee maker work - in fact everything new. J remembers the location of the little local supermarket from our stay only a block away seven and a half years ago. Near the cemetery, he says, and so it is. Down (and returning up) a hill as is everything in Albufeira, but not far away.
Down to the old town in the afternoon. This was once a fishing village, but 40,000 inhabitants and millions of tourists later its a sprawl with a commercial core. Still, we are pretty near the old heart, and wander round the pubs and restaurants and handicraft sellers. There’s a long beach, almost empty in November, though it’s not cold. Maybe 18 degrees - a little warmer with the sun and a little cooler with the ocean breeze. Try, unsuccessfully to locate a little restaurant we ate at in 2011. When we get home I look it up in the blog of the day to get the name. Then check the online reviews. They’re horrific, one probably qualifying as the worst I’ve read:
** “My sons and I went into this restaurant and sat down and ordered 3 meals and 3 drinks.The waiter that took the order seemed fine but there was a very bad atmosphere in the restaurant. All the staff seemed unhappy and frightened of the head chef who was shouting at the waiters..the whole kitchen is in view of the customers. There were a lot of customers that seemed unhappy due to wrong orders and waiting some considerable time. We looked on and the head chef had a full blown row with a waiter..the waiter picked an empty plate up and rubbed his hand all over it gesturing how the customer wanted the meal. To my surprise the plate went back on top of the plate pile for the next customer. We drank our drinks slowly and watched on...bread and olives and spreads were brought to us which we did not order and asked for them to be taken back but they were left there. Whilst this was going on the head chef put 3 meals on top of the counter and rang the bell...they sat there for 5 minutes..when the waiter came the head chef was shouting again and spit was coming out of his mouth and going on the food. The head chef then stormed out of the restaurant and stoof outside smoking a cigarette he had just hand rolled. In the meantime we watched a worker in the kitchen drop an item of food she was preparing and pick it up and put it back on a preperation plate. We were now getting worried. We watched the head chef come back in from his ciggy break..he did not wash his hands and carried on plating up meals and shouting. We then tried to cancel our order and pay for our drinks. After 10 minutes of explaining about hygene and good customer service we were allowed to go after we paid for drinks and bread/spreads we did not eat...this place would qualify for Ramseys kitchen nightmares.”**
Happy to have enjoyed spaghetti at home tonight. And sorry for the downhill plunge of a restaurant we once liked.