Wednesday, 22nd January
Anse Chastanet
The hotel is perched on a spur, or shoulder, of a hill that slopes down to the sea. One side offers stunning views of the Pitons, which inspired a newly graduated architecture student from Canada to build a hotel here during a gap year visit in the mid-60s. Initially, there were fewer than ten rooms, all overlooking the Pitons.
The rooms are housed in buildings that typically contain two or three rooms, each with its own entrance. Over the years, the hotel has expanded, and Anse Chastanet now boasts 49 rooms. Some of these are located on the other side of the spur, overlooking the forest but still offering a view of the sea. Our room was one of these.
There are three rooms known as beach houses. As the name suggests, these are located at beach level and are the only rooms with air-conditioning. The rest of the rooms are open on one side. Our room had wooden slats with mosquito netting on the outside. We also had ceiling fans, which proved surprisingly efficient and cooling. Additionally, we had a small balcony with a table and two chairs, overlooking the sea.
The hub of the hotel is located at mid-level. From here, steps and paths lead up to all rooms, except the beach houses, and about 140 steps descend to beach level. (I counted 142 steps, but others assured me there were 138!)
At this mid-level is the main restaurant, the Treehouse restaurant (open on two sides), the Piton bar, and above that, the Emerald restaurant (both open on about three sides). The original Treehouse restaurant, concierge, and reception are also located here. All three restaurants at this level serve the same menu.
At the beach level, is the Beach Bar and Beach Restaurant. The Beach Restaurant serves a buffet menu. There are also two boutiques: one selling books, chocolates, beach shoes, T-shirts, and more; the other offering ladies' clothes and swimwear. The latter boutique is air-conditioned—almost enough to spark my interest in ladies' fashions!
Additionally, the beach level features tennis courts, a scuba centre, an art gallery/studio, and, particularly appealing to Jo, a spa.
Which brings me to the first, and only, pre-booked item on the agenda for today: a spa 'treatment' for Jo at 09:15. Whilst Jo was receiving her treatment I sat in the Beach bar looking over the beach and sea.
Jo's spa session over, we walked to the beach at Anse Mamin. (Where there is another bar and the 'Jungle Beach Grill').
With fine weather, almost wall to wall sunshine - exactly as I imagined the Caribbean - we spent the day on the beach under a sunshade, only moving to the Jungle Grill for lunch: gazpacho for me and feta cheese salad for Jo, with a glass of Prosecco each to make snoozing after lunch easier...
After the 140 steps back up to the reception level on our return to our room before dinner, we came across a vegan tasting session. I reluctantly agreed to some tasting and must admit it was very good,
