The Villa in Prato

If holidays were like books, films or military campaigns and had names, this one would be called "The Holiday of the Hill."

Our house in Romania has a hill in the back which is one of the first things the boys want to climb when we arrive. We climb up to get a view of the village, to see how much bigger certain trees are, to see what has flourished, what has died, to stretch our legs after the hours of travel and to give the dogs a chance to rebond with us.
It's something we do to make us feel at home again.

I don't recall ever feeling the need to have this experience while we were out traveling. Yet during this holiday we seemed totally unable to avoid hiking hills.

It started in Budapest with the swanky apartment which was located near the citadel. If you all had traveled there as I suggested, you would know that the hike to the citadel is not for the faint of heart. (Really, if you have cardiopulmonary issues you should not do it). And there we were, hiking it several times a day.

On to Lake Garda, the inclines of which I have already described.

On to Monterosso where our apartment was set in the hill above the town. It was a short walk, yes, but a steep one.

Then we arrive in Prato and are driving around to find the house and marveling to ourselves at how wide and flat the streets are (by this I mean a car and a bicycle can both fit with only minimal chance of death and dismemberment) at which point we are told by our trusty online map to make a turn and lo and behold, we begin to go up a hill.

Incline issues aside, what was really lovely about this house was how secluded it felt and yet how near to the city center it was. About a seven minute walk to the train station, a few more minutes to get inside the wall of the old city.

We were met by Angelica and Enrico and while they helped us get settled in Angelica told us how she grew up in the house and raised her children there. Five generations of her family lived there until a few years ago when they began renting it out for holiday visitors. They were extremely generous with the food they provided (I'm talking eggs, bread, jams, wine) and really made us feel welcome.

Once again we were provided with excellent recommendations for restaurants, bars, gelato and sights to see. Enrico was as spot on as Novella and Daniella were. Plus, as Mircea pointed out, he was just a "cool dude." He and his wife, Giulia, met us in the city one day for a gelato and a stroll. A stroll on flat streets, mind you, the hill hike they generously left for us to do alone. After all, they did not sign up for "The Holiday of the Hill." Neither did we, as I recall, but there you have it.

Monterosso al Mare

A lot of people visit Cinque Terre. If you hear them talking, they'll probably be comparing Manarola with Vernazza, Corniglia with Riomaggiore. If you're touring the area with a group, you'll get a sticker that says "5 Terre" so that in case you forget where you are, you can always look down at the front of your shirt and remind yourself.

If we had made tour group stickers, ours would have said "1 Terre". Because really we just hung around in Monterosso. Which wasn't such a bad place to hang out in case you're wondering. And I'm sure you are.

We rented an apartment for a week and one would think that during that time, five little cities, separated by minutes' worth of train rides, could be visited.
After all, the traveling Ionescus have visited five countries in one week, we're undaunted, limitless in our reserves of energy and enthusiasm for seeing new sights and trying new restaurants. One would think this Cinque Terre business would be child's play for us.
One would think.

The apartment wasn't as glamourous as the house in Lake Garda (although the road into town is nearly as inaccessible and we did get in a fender bender enroute) but it was comfortable in a way I didn't anticipate. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that what I didn't anticipate was that we would crave said comfort. I think the days of hairpin turns through narrow streets with 8 people rocking and rolling against each other, the scent of a burning clutch sharp in our noses and the whispers of prayers muttered in terror kind of took their toll. To say we wanted nothing more than a warm, quiet place in which we could curl up into the fetal position and weep would be possibly exaggerating. (And by exaggerating I mean to say that maybe only 3 out of 6 of us did that on arrival).
So the spacious apartment was what we needed.

We also needed Daniella, who was born and raised in the Central Coast area and later married an Italian, to be our guide. We used an agency similar to Airbnb for the place and Daniella's services, like Novella's, came with the package. The day we arrived she met us and started going over good restaurants in Monterosso and once she'd named twice the number that we could possibly visit, I guess mentally I said to myself "why go anywhere else?"

We were a five minute walk from the center of the new town, a ten minute walk from the center of the old town. Seven minutes to the beach, the sea, the kayaks, and five minutes for the boys to walk to the local bar and hang out for espresso and free wifi (internet continued to be a problem) with a group of 20-something Italian hipster/tech nerds.

So you see where I'm going with this.
For those obtuse readers I'll spell it out in black and white: I'm justifying the decision to sequester myself within five mile radius for an entire week and feel no guilt at all about it.

Check out the photos and you'll understand. Unless otherwise noted, all of the photos are taken in Monterosso.

View from our deck at sunset and at night. Sunrise view is above.

We got started immediately with the restaurants. Because that's what we do. It was a seafood lover's paradise. Why would my dad go there you wonder. The answer is that I have no idea. A few times he had to go in search of a pizza shack while we engaged in fine dining. But for the most part he downed enough red vino to make the fish smell tolerable.

Some scenes around town. We had a mixture of sunshine and rain throughout the week

The highlight was definately the kayaking and diving. Since I don't have a waterproof camera I have no photos of the diving.

Oh and we had a water spout. I was lying in bed and glanced up and thought "hmmm that looks like a tornado forming."....pretty much my worst nightmare right there.

So here are the photos from the other towns.

And here's how excited we were to leave Monterosso and go to the other towns.

I believe the point has been made.