Surreal Seville

It’s been a very long time since I last posted, but here I am again. I will try to add some posts about the last few months. I have a couple started and other stories I would love to share.

Today I made my way down to Seville, and it is both lovely and strange to walk its streets again. The 6-hour bus trip down was relatively pleasant, though I must remember to try to get a seat on the opposite side of the bus from the sun. The temperature went up 10 degrees Celsius (around 18 degrees Fahrenheit) as we headed south.

It took me around an hour to meander from the bus station to my hostal, in part because I had to wander the winding streets of the old quarter between the University of Seville and the Cathedral with its famous Giralda tower. Fortunately, the walk took me along the river, past the Triana bridge that I crossed every day when I studied in Seville for 6 months in 1996 (I’m very fond of that bridge). Then, I went past the bullfighting ring and later came to the Torre de Oro (Golden Tower), another monument I hold dear from my time here, and then away from the Guadalquivir River to the university.

After settling into the hostal (they found a bed for me even though they didn’t get the reservation I had made online), I went back out to wander as night fell. My hostal is just a block from the university and two blocks from the cathedral.

It invokes a strange type of nostalgia to walk these streets again. Seville has added an above ground metro since I was here, but so many places took me back thirteen years to when I studied here, to memories of exploring the city with my parents, my sisters and Puck. So familiar, yet different. Just as the city is a mixture of past and present, my experience blends moments from my personal past with the present…. Coffee with Puck and Dad, photos at the Golden Tower with my sisters, drinks by the river, sitting outside the university with friends and chatting, Puck and Linda chasing down two pickpockets, photos with pigeons…. so many memories.

I also managed to arrive during a week-long book fair. What luck! 🙂 I got to see a few of the stalls tonight before they shut down for the night. Near one of the cathedral entrances the soothing notes of a violinist drew a crowd, and while the day was hot, the evening was invitingly cool.

Tomorrow, I’ll be up early and off to visit some archives.