Soverato appears to be a lovely little seaside resort located on the eastern shore of the Italian peninsula on the Ionian sea. I say “appears” because we arrived in town one week after the end of high season and most of the “tourist” type venues had buttoned up for the season. So, we ended up staying at a B&B (B&B Stella Marina) a modern, lovely little property which was a little less than a mile from Centro (downtown) but 200′ (62m) up a hill.
People often ask me how I can travel so light (one checked rollaboard and the only reason it was checked is due to my hiking poles are not allowed on board.) Laundry, one does laundry while on the road. So, while our day in Soverato was a rest day, it was also laundry day.
I have now used coin laundries in five different countries in my life (US, Spain, UK, Scotland and Italy) compared to the US, the typical overseas laundry is tiny by comparison 2 to five washers max and half as many dryers so the trick is to get to the coin laundry early before the locals can take up all the machines. The next universal challenge is change, soap and fabric softener if using. In this instance there were no change machines in the lavanderia however,, uniquely, this particular laundry supplied the soap as part of the laundry injecting it directly into the machine at the rate you selected. Of course, I did not realize this until I had a) bought the detergent down the street at a little market where I gave they guy a 10 euro note and he gave me some coin and a five euro note back… I handed him the five back and asked for coin instead and it was “no dispiace” (no, sorry). So, the three of us got to do our laundry in one machine while I went to another market to break the five so we could dry our laundry. Laundry complete, we walked into town looking like three hobos carrying our laundry in parcels while looking for the libreria where we would get our testimonial for the hike.
As we moved through the center of town we found a statue of the Virgin Mary erected in 1954, my birthyear which was also a “Marian Year” in the Catholic church designated by Pius the XII to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the inclusion of the Immaculate Conception into Catholic dogma by Pius IX (information courtesy of the University of Dayton, what I know about Catholic dogma could be fit in a small box, a very small box LOL). While it was pleasant in the shade, the Mediterranean sun simply melts me as can be seen in the photo below.
We did find a shady place to sit and chill for a bit.
One of the things that I truly gained an appreciation for on the trip is Neapolitan style pizza. Its, light, its fresh and it is eaten with a knife and fork as pizza is not sliced in Italy.
A lovely Pizza and a couple of beers and we were ready for the hike back up the hill to our B&B for a nap before our evening sojourn into Centro.
We must have all been getting a little burned out on picture taking at this point because none of us have any more pictures of downtown Soverato, which is too bad it is a cute pedestrian friendly downtown. We did go back to the little bar we drug ourselves into the night before at the end of our hike to enjoy an evening snack. The young lady who waited on us the night before came up smiling and asked “Tutte bene?” meaning “All better?” To which I replied “Si molto tutte bene” or “yes, very much better” and laughed as I ordered a round of drinks for the table. Next dispatch San Giovanni in Fiore, the home of my great grandparents where we meet my cousin(?) the Mayor. 🙂
Lou Hikes? 