A Visitor in my Own Past

I still feel like Seville is my city, my home, but as soon as I arrive it's obvious not mine anymore.

This past weekend was the first time I had to find a place to sleep. Feeling as if Seville was still was my home I made the mistake of not finding a hostal in advance. While I did live there for three months in the not so distant past, I don´t know my way around hostel and hotel world in Seville. Trying to find a place to sleep that first night was a slap in the face.

As a somewhat experienced traveler I knew that the most expensive places to stay would be on the main drag of the city so I decided to take to the side streets to search for something closer to my price range. After 30 minutes of unsuccessfully wandering around, finding out that I had just made a complete circle and still not having a place to lay my head my ineptness showed its big, ugly head again. 

When I did finally find a place the proprietor seemed too excited about my checking in alone so I told him that I had to check out something else and made a run for it. After this one questionable experience I decided to put up the extra money and headed back toward the center to look for something. 

Feeling a little down that I had yet to find anything in this city that I thought I knew so well I decided the best plan of action would be to relax and go to my favorite bodega and get some food. After a GIANT jarra of tinto verano ( a red wine and soda concoction) and a good helping of patatas alioli it was time to hit the pavement again.

This time I only stumbled one block away before finding a place. Keeping my hopes low, being that it was 10 o’clock and probably full, I rang the bell. 

When I entered I was immediately greeted with English, which would normally rub me the wrong way as I am in Spain  and want to speak Spanish, my state of mind at the time was comforted by this. And YES! they had a room AND it was cheaper than the sketching hostel from earlier.

The rest of the weekend was great, but just for a moment, a quick moment, I felt like a visitor in my own past.