The last few days have been hot. Very hot and very humid. So getting around has been a challenge but returning home from the hotel a few days ago things changed. We were offered a ride in the hotel Tuktuk.
The best way home
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Category Archives: casetta arienzo
Pool lunches
Our days spent by the hotel pool are broken by lunch at the Eden Sky Bar. The food is always great but we have very different orders. One is healthy and delicious, the other is fish and chips. Guess who has what.
Super Yacht Watch
It’s been a busy week on the water at Positano. Following Ferragosto last week a few boats have stayed moored offshore. This is the view from the hotel pool looking south towards Praiano.
Beach Day
Thursday was beach day. We chose the Fratelli Grassi beach club on Fornillo Spiaggia, although we did think this club was on Spiaggia Grande (the main beach at Positano) when we booked. This led to a little confusion and a walk around the point but we found it in the end.
Beach clubs are everywhere in Italy. The regimented rows of loungers and umbrellas facing the beach with restaurant and facilities behind them. They vary greatly in quality, service and price so picking the right one is a mix of art and science.
We booked online and could specify exactly which loungers we wanted – for us, front row ( a short 2 metre walk to the water) and at the end of a row (so we aren’t surrounded by other beach club goers). We added in towels which came to total of 120 Euros for the day.
Lunch and drinks are extra although there are packages available but these proved too complicated for us to work out so we paid as we went.
Jean is a true beach girl so for her the highlight was time in the water. I’m not really a beach guy so for me the highlight was lunch and the steady stream of drinks that could be ordered as the day went by.
We had heard that Grassi had a good kitchen and the grilled fish didn’t disappoint.
We also discovered that we could use the courtesy boat to get back to the main beach, saving the walk back to Positano. Bonus.
Rainy evening in Positano
A few days ago the run of fine and sunny weather was broken by a combination of rain followed by a night of thunder and lightening.
It hadn’t rained for 2 months and the downpour made up for this, soaking everything as it passed. The thunder and lightening later in the night was spectacular, thunder loud enough to wake us and keep us awake and lightening that lit up the coast like day. The storm lasted about hour and managed to knock out power to the village for a short time.
Thankfully next day normal transmission resumed although with a lower temperature and a freshness in the air that was welcome.
Moonlight over Positano
Jean captured these lovely shots of a fingernail moon over Positano a few days ago. In one you can also see what we think is the planet Mercury?
Any keen astronomers, please advise.
Positano – first impressions
We arrived in Positano on Saturday and have settled into villa life. The jet lag is pretty much gone and we’re feeling human again. The last couple of days have been spent in and about the hotel pool dealing to our winter whiteness, and even after a couple of days we are both a little browner and a little more able to fit in with the locals.
One thing we were expecting – the crowds – were much reduced on two years ago.
The last time we were here Positano was packed. Mid August is peak season and the combination of the village population trebling as hotels and Air BnBs fill up, and the day trippers arriving by the coach load, meant the village could barely cope.
Good news – this is not so much the case this year. Everyone we have talked to puts this down to a combination of economic uncertainty (particularly holding back American visitors), global unease and shifting travel habits with more visitors earlier and later in the season. In fact one local said with some shock, that some hotel rooms were available at 24 hours notice which, for the last few years has been unheard of.
Day trippers still mean the village is crowded between 10am and 3pm but much less so than in the past.
And the hotels are finding that they are booked longer into the shoulder season. Eden Roc Hotel closes at the end of October which is traditionally when bookings have dropped dramatically but this year they are fully booked right to closing day.
Two weeks in the sun
We’ve now been in Positano for a fortnight and have gone from a pasty white colour to a burnished brown (Jean) and a slightly brown tinge (Me). Our stress levels have dropped and our ability to spend time doing next to nothing has increased.
Positano is busy but less busy than last year. The number of people in the village each day seems less and everyone – including the locals – seem happier about that. The general consensus seems to be that 2024 is a return to 2022 visitor levels.
The main reason for this seems to be a reduction in the number of American visitors holidaying this year versus last year.
By coincidence, there is an article on stuff.co.nz today (originally from the Washington Post) looking at tourism on the coast and painting a pretty grim picture of the numbers and the crowding. Some of it rings true but, based on our two weeks, some of it seems to be more about last year than this year.
This last few days we had a visitor from the north staying with us. Our friend Tina has been on holiday in Tuscany and she came down to stay in the casetta for a few days. Days of wine and … more wine.
After two weeks it is time for us to move on to Tuscany – high speed train from Napoli to Firenze, then a rental car to Radda in Chianti and our place for the next few days – Relais Vignale.
As a farewell to Positano, here are a grab-bag of images from the last week.
Carved out of the cliff
When we say that Casetta Arienzo is carved out of the cliff, we are not kidding. The best place to see this is in the laundry/downstairs toilet. I’ve posted about this before but it still amazes me the work that went in to building this place. You can still see the holes where the builders drilled into the cliff.
Has anyone we know invested in a local villa recently?
We spotted this lovely villa on our walk to the village in Positano.
Sweet treats
Tony works at Eden Roc hotel and, among other things, manages the breakfast service. He is a lovely man with a happiness and joy about him that is infectious. Even the grumpiest breakfast customer is inevitably won over by his charm and eagerness to make “Tony’s breakfast” the most important meal of the day.
Even on days that we don’t have breakfast at the hotel but come later to spend time around and in the pool, he appears with a small box of sweet treats for us (well me actually) – a selection of the cakes and pastries he knows I like – that we can bring back to the casetta and eat later.
Good Morning Positano
Get up. Put the kettle on. Open the front door. Not a bad way to start the day.
Wellington’s leaking pipes crisis reaches Positano
Just as Wellington Water cleaned up a major leak on Kent Terrace yesterday, a leak in Casetta Arienzo robbed us of our hot water.
Yesterday afternoon a loud hissing started emanating from the roof of the casetta. A plume of hot steam started to appear above the villa and the hot water supply promptly stopped. For those not familiar with Italian plumbing (myself included) when houses are built into cliff-sides it’s usual for things like water cylinders, gas tanks, wiring, piping and electrics to be mounted externally. Hence the dramatic steam display when our hot water tank (sitting on the roof of the casetta) failed.
It was enough to stop passers by who stared, pointed, looked worried, and asked each other meaningful questions which we didn’t know the meaning of.
A quick call to the hotel and our friend Pascal arrived on his trusty Vespa. He looked both confused and worried, and after making sure we were ok disappeared up the path that led to the roof and the tank. He took on the steaming monster singlehanded and seemed to win.
He managed to stop the noise and the steam and the water that had started to cascade down the cliff, but restoring the hot water was a job for a professional. First thing this morning a plumber – whose name might have been Mario – arrived at the cassetta and within 15 mins the hot water was back on.
Maybe we should see if Wellington Water would like to use the services of Mario?
Toscanakiwi 