When you pop down to your local service station you obviously expect to find petrol, maybe some basic groceries, newspapers ....... what else ? Well I was rather suprised at what I found in my local Repsol stations. Its fairly common to find a car wash but a laundrette? At one of the Repsol stations in Altea they have what looks like a porta-cabin with a selection of washing machines and tumble dryers!   Look carefully to the right of the picture and you can see the "laundrette" on the forecourt!

 I must say its actually a really good idea - especially when you see the size of a Spanish apartment - a typical 2 bed apartment is aprox. 70 sq mts.
 The instructions are all in English and Spanish and you purchase the token from the petrol station.
An 8kg load machine costs 4.50€ , a 14kg load machine 7.50€ and the tumble dryer is 3€ for 25 minutes..... and washing powder and fabric softner is included in the machine price! Not bad .... and no parking issues either.

Now picture this -  you take your car to the wash on Sunday morning and next to it the wife takes the dog for a wash ! Yes really. At the Repsol station in La Nucia there is a "Dog wash". Place you dog into the shower and raise the metal door up slightly so it can't jump out - there is a chain inside so you can tie the lead and then for 5€ you get 15 minutes of wash and dry! Yep ... comes with a hairdryer too!
I'm tempted to take my son there after he's been playing football and cricket actually - except at 6ft I think I may struggle to get him in!