Long Weekend Getaway

We stayed at Hotel Ricadi. It's a three-star hotel located at the bottom of the hill of San Antonio; it’s really well located. The staff were really nice and helpful, they let us check in very early in the morning and check out late in the afternoon, after 6pm.

We made reservations by phone and as it was a long weekend and it was crowded, they called us the night before to confirm our stay and to ask what time we would like to check in.

The hotel has an indoor pool, a perfect option for bad weather, but as the weekend was sunny and warm, we didn’t use it. It also has a pool table, a ping pong table, and a foosball. Although they were really worn out we enjoyed them a lot, but for sure they should buy new ones, they are so destroyed that there’s no room for repair.

The room had a great view, it was big and comfortable, it had a fridge, and the wardrobe was big enough. The bathroom was just okay, I would say “normal.” Everything was very clean. What I found really interesting was that if you keep the room keys it means that you don’t want your bedroom to be cleaned, but if you leave the keys in the reception office it’s because you want your bedroom to be cleaned and the linens to be changed. To tell you the truth we were going to stay there just a weekend so we preferred a messy bedroom than people touching our staff.

The hotel fee was really low, it was $50 for the two nights, for a double bedroom, and it included breakfast. The breakfast room had huge windows facing the sea. Can you think of something better to start your day? Breakfast was buffet style, there were a lot of everything but nothing was outstanding except for the view.

To make a long story short not only do I recommend the hotel but I’m also coming back next month.

You may contact the hotel: www.hotelricadi.com

When planning our trip we were on a budget, so we wouldn’t spend much money having lunch; we would have some fast food somewhere during the day, trying to save money to have romantic dinners.

As it always happens, our plans changed. The first day at Piriapolis was so nice, so warm, and so perfect that we decided to enjoy a meal overlooking the sea.

After walking for hours we agreed to sit in a restaurant that seemed to be the perfect one (I chose it—my boyfriend almost killed me). The view was perfect but nothing else was.

We asked for two chivitos (like a hamburger—because of the bread and filling ingredients—but with beef inside) and a family Coke because there were no smaller drinks. First the waitress brought us the Coke and glasses which were completely dirty. My boyfriend asked the waitress to change the glasses. She did, but the second glasses were dirty as well…so, very angry and trying not to ruin our romantic lunch, I opened my bag, took a handkerchief, and "cleaned" the lipstick that remained on one of the glasses. We used just one, the cleaner one.

We were so happy that we didn’t want to pay attention to this "little" thing. When the food came we almost got up and left the restaurant, but instead we laughed a lot. They were the worst chivitos we have ever seen! They were inedible! And on top of everything, they were overpriced. We tried to eat them but it was impossible; I saw my boyfriend seasoning the salad and I asked him in amazement, "Will you eat that salad?" He smiled and said, "I’m destroying it so they can’t serve this same salad to anyone else!"

We drank the Coke in the dirty glass and continued our way. Fortunately we were so happy enjoying our first "holiday" together that we were not in the mood to complain—we couldn’t do anything but laugh at this first disappointing experience.

It’s been a year since we walked up to the top to San Antonio’s Hill and I remember it as if it were today. It was so special.

We started walking up the hill at five in the afternoon; there still was plenty of sunlight, so we thought we would make it before night. After some time walking, we realized we were lost. We were walking in circles but not up the hill. We immediately approached some locals and asked them for the way up and they advised us to stick to the path since soon it was going to be get dark.

They were right, as we were walking up the top of the hill we experienced the most beautiful sunset we had ever experienced. It was a scene difficult to forget. A few minutes later the night caught us. From then on, the night was full of emotions: we were excited because we were on our own and we had a delightful scenery in front of our eyes and were scared because some parts of the track were so dark that we couldn’t even see each other. However, those were the perfect moments where my boyfriend would hold me and would point out to the stars. It was a perfect, clear night. It may sound ridiculous, but it was so perfect!

After a two-hour walk up the hill we made it to the top where San Antonio was. We went inside, admired it, made a few wishes, and left. It is said that you cannot go to Saint Antonio’s hill with your boyfriend because he would take him away from you, but for me it was an excellent romantic hike, and after a year, my boyfriend is still with me.

On the top, there were also some souvenir stores, in one of them my boyfriend and I bought one souvenir we fell in love with, not because it was so nice, but because it had some words written on it, which took our hearts away. We bought it and said that the souvenir would be the first thing our own house would have. By that time, we didn’t even know when we would be able to have our house and live together, we just were going to keep it until that moment.

After a year, I’m proud to say that that souvenir is already on one of our own walls, decorating our new home.

I can’t say that hiking San Antonio’s hill would be such a nice experience for anybody, but I can still say that it is worth hiking it at night as the scenes are breathtaking.