Room Surprises

One of my favorite part of traveling is staying in hotels. Often, the hotel room ends up being the most interesting part of my stay in a given town. Each hotel room has its own personality, highlights…and flaws. I love putting myself in the head of whoever designed the hotel room and asking myself why he or she designed it the way that I experienced it.

For example, my hotel room in Pompei was a little eerie, yet it had one very strong aspect that let me forgive all the other flaws. Before I tell you that, however, I’ll back up a bit and describe the overall hotel.

The hotel was located about 100 yards from one of the two main entrances to the ancient city of Pompei. This was very nice. All I had to do was walk out of the hotel and there stood the old historical city right at my feet. That was nice, but I found one thing a little strange: there were no other hotels around. The closest one was about 500 yards away, down the hill and out of sight. It seemed like my hotel had bought the right to be the one-and-only hotel directly at the gates of the ancient city.

To make all of this even a bit more strange, there were practically no other guests in the hotel. I got the sense that I shared the entire four-floor hotel with only one other person, who I saw only once.

The hotel appeared to have been built in the 1950s, or perhaps in the 60s. It was generally in good condition, but it was showing some wear and tear. For example, my room appeared not to have undergone any major renovations since it was originally built. The desk table, chair, cabinet, closet, and bathroom were the originals and all slightly beat up, but still in working order.

The effect that this had on me was that I was situated in an aging hotel that would appear in a Stephen King and Jack Nicholson movie.

But as I said at the start of this entry, the hotel had one saving grace, and that is the view. The room opened onto a large balcony that provided me with a dazzling view of the entire city of Naples, its harbor and the mountains surrounding the city on three sides, including Mount Vesuvius. It was indeed spectacular. Plus, the balcony was located directly above the hotel’s pool, which was, of course, closed since the time of year was December.

That view let me forgive all the shortcomings of the room and the hotel in general, which included an absence of any operating full-service restaurants in the area. The only food alternatives were three snack concessions located right outside the gates of the ancient city. Pizza and sandwiches were all they offered.

But the view made me forget all of the rest. Plus, it changed depending on the time of day and how bright the day was or dark the night was. Just as the daytime view was breathtaking, the night one was also fascinating, clearly showing the shape of the basin Naples is located in.

If I were asked to give the room a rating, I would probably say C+ or B-. In addition to the above description, the room had a very small TV, and it operated only about half the week that I stayed there. Fortunately, the hotel and the surrounding environment were very quiet, free of human-generated or city-generated noise.

Would I stay there again? Probably. The price was simply too good, and the room met most of my main requirements to an acceptable extent. The sense of desolation and isolation there made me a bit uneasy, but I seemed to adapt to it as the week progressed.