Washing your clothes in Italy - Taormina

Reading Italian for Dummies didn't make finding this place any easier!

Getting to Taormina was very difficult, but it was well worth it.  The city was really a piece of paradise.  It looked so much like San Sebastian, but instead with mountains in the background it had Mount Etna, before in catania we were on the opposite side of Mount Etna.  The two days spent there were well needed, in the morning we were awoken with the most divine view of the spaggio, or beach.

The view from the cable car that took us into the main town.

We explored the ancient Greek colloseum where we spent riposo (rest), and then afterwards we went to the spaggio (beach) to view isola bella.  Honestly it was very comfortable and serene lying there on the rocks looking at the little island on the fringe of sicily.  

Mount Etna in the back

After weaving through the main streets of Taormina, we found a cafe near our hotel.  We grabbed a table outside.  We were the only patrons, and the only person in the cafe manning the counter was a tall, dark, transvestite.  She was something!  We bought a piece of pie.  Nobody wanted to eat the last bite, and my friend tossed it into the sky using her fork.  It flew high in the sky, and boomeranged back on to the wind shield of some expensive European car.  

The owner of this car was chatting it up inside the cafe with the cashier.  So naturally, we got up, and sprinted to our hotel room.   

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The view from our hotel

Travelers often wonder, how do you manage washing your clothes on the road.  Especially in Europe where I didn't see lavanderias at every block, the way you see them in Mexico.  So naturally being brown, I figured I would just wash things in hotel bathrooms with shampoo or whatever soap I could scrounge up.  

At first my traveling buddy was kind of opposed to this.  But then she came around when she saw how convenient this was.  Don't have to coordinate with the laundromat, we're constantly on the road, etc.  So she washed a bunch of stuff by hand in the hotel in Taormina.  

At least we got stunning views from the laundromat!

Even though it was winter time, there was a lot of moisture in the air there.  Her clothes hung on the line, and would not dry.  So we some how heard of a laundromat.  And of course this being a coastal mediterranean town, the laundromat was on the top of a hill.  After what felt like climbing Mount Etna - we finally found this magical laundromat.  Where the attendant happily placed the washed clothes in her dryer.  For about 7-8 items of clothing the grand total came to 10 euros, insane.

What am I wearing?!  

So I you ever find yourself, away from cheap convenient laundromats, and our staying at a hotel well out of your budget - I would advise don't sit in the bathroom scrubbing away at a whole load of laundry.  Stay flexible, and just do 1-2 items at a time - that way you aren't lugging a heavy soggy bag on top of everything else you are lugging around on your travels.  

That's another reason why I love visiting third world countries, all those little things like the lavanderia make life so easy, and of course cheap!