One trend I’ve noticed as we head toward month eight of our trip is that when I’m annoyed by current my Airbnb choice (like Lyon) or very happy with my current choice (like London), I tend to go overboard when planning the next part of our trip.
And that happened in Naples. I booked it when we were at a great place in Prague (review coming someday) and I was clearly enjoying the bougie life and wanted it to continue. So I booked a giant Airbnb in Naples that used to be a palace, Palazzo Caracciolo d’Arena. The oldest parts of the building date back to the 15th century, but most of it is from the 18th century. And it felt like a palace (once you were inside)!
When you walk in, you immediately notice the extremely high ceilings. They must be 30 feet high. Each of the three sitting rooms (yes, three!) still had some of the ornate details from when the building was a palace. The doors, the walls, even the ceilings had beautiful designs.
The Airbnb had a small kitchen that was nicely renovated, with a small balcony that held the washer. The tile on the kitchen floor was one of my favorite parts of the apartment.
The two bedrooms were a good size, the main one being huge! It was the biggest bedroom we’ve seen in Italy.
We also had two bathrooms! The best part were the hidden doors to the bathrooms. I loved how they blended in with the walls.
The outside was a little less stately but very much Naples. If you never been to Naples, you need to know that it is crowded and loud and practically vibrates with energy. There are people everywhere, and they use every bit of outdoor space they can. You’ll see clothes drying on racks on the side of the road, people hanging out in plastic chairs, groups of people on motorbikes and scooters just chilling together. The courtyard of the Airbnb was no different. We even saw a man use a bucket to give a lady a set of keys, a typical method of transfer in a place where they could only build up, not out.
On our second day there, we came back after a morning out to a bunch of coffee packets on the counter that weren’t there before. The host came in and dropped it off without telling us. I have a lot of expensive equipment with me and it made me uncomfortable. They apologized but it was weird. The following night, I got up to get water in the middle of the night and saw three of the biggest roaches I’ve ever seen, and I live in Florida. It was disgusting and I obviously couldn’t sleep after that. The host told me that was not normal and they would look into it, and I was glad it happened with only one night left.
At $1,187.18 for five nights, it was a great deal, especially considering it was a palace on a busy road near some of the best pizza. I would have highly recommended this place, but since they came in while we were gone and there were giant roaches, I’m not sure I would stay there again.
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Patti, You are really living La Vita Loca!! My wife and I were in Naples many years ago when I was in the military. Got there after a God-awful military hop that routed us to Sigonella and Rota first-we flew on almost every type of military aircraft (including a helicopter that “broke!”). When we finally got to Naples, we stayed in a “Pension.” You can imagine!! What an amazing contrast. In spite of all that, we LOVED Naples (but you had to watch your wallet!! And they are great “gropers” in public transportation!! The color, the food, the culture-we went back in time to when our ancestors lived in Italy (not Naples), and had a wonderful time. I hope you did too. Thank you for sharing these experiences, it’s wonderful!
Wow, that sounds like quite the adventure! Naples is such a vibrant and wild city, unlike every other city we’ve been to in Italy. I love how alive it feels! And they have the best pizza!