Best and worst toilets in Umbria, Italy - the key!

When you travel you use toilets more than any other facility. Unless you are really cutting down on drink, you may be needing toilets more often than food stops.

Here are some of the delights and disappointments and puzzles I have found in toilets on my travels.

Singapore and Malaysia

Problem
You go into a toilet cubicle and can't find any toilet paper.

Answer
1 The shower on the back or side wall knee high beside the toilet bowl is not for washing the floor but for cleaning yourself.
2 Toilet paper maybe be in one big roll on the wall outside the cubicles or even outside the entrance to the Ladies.

Story
Italy
I had wonderful toilet in the castle hotel Castello Monterone, a restored castle, now with all modern 'conveniences', on the hillside outside Perugia, looking across the valley to the city. On arrival we are shown up a medieval style staircase to the bedrooms.

"I hope you like your bedroom!" says the owner.

Yes, I do. The beds look delightful. But first things first, after a flight from London, Stagnated, on Ryan Air. Here's the 'bathroom', actually a shower room, which I prefer, attached to the bedroom.

The bathroom, sorry, shower room, is all white and clean. White marble tiles, I'm guessing. Bidet. Toiletries. But where's the toilet paper?

As you can see if you look closely at any picture, when you are standing you can see that jets toilet paper is at head height - when you are standing!

Not everybody gets to stay in a castle hotel. But you might go to a little local restaurant in the capital of Umbria, Perugia. In Perugia, we visited a regional restaurant which had the most wonderful tiles in the toilets. Colourful. Black, white, red. Astonishing. Delightfully different. So this was one of the best decorated toilets. Such character.

The man who ran the restaurant was a chatty character, a real foodie, who told us everything about the food, where it was grown, how it was cooked. One small matter was missed. The location of the restaurant toilet.

I found the toilet. I also found the keyhole. But no key. To my dying day, this will remain one of my life's unsolved mysteries. Where was the key? If you know the answer, please tell me.

Yet, I never found a key for the lock. So it was very stressful.

Tip
Go to the toilet with a friend or guide / translator from the host country. They can ask local people or tell you local customs.

Umbriatourism.it

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and author. Please share posts.