If you've ever returned to a place in your past after a long time away, you'll have some idea what it's been like for me these past few weeks. I've just returned from a wedding in Germany where the snow was falling thick and fast, and the event gave me an excuse to return to Spain. It's twenty-five years since I returned home to New Zealand, after spending eight years in Seville, and something of the old me surfaced as soon as I stepped off the train, as did a whole new me.  

I used to live in the old quarter of Seville, where crumbling ruins of ancient city walls remain intact from the C12th, bordering cobblestoned streets.

When I lived there the streets where quiet and empty – free of traffic. But now, in 2016, the noise is deafening: cars, bikes, and skateboards bounce over cobblestones and vie for access. 

Nick and I joined the crowds and hunted down some familiar street names; in particular, Calle Almirante Ulloa and Abad Gordillo, two streets where I used to live.

However, the houses which used to be abbeys have been sold, and the nuns and priests of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face now reside at the Basilica of Palmar de Troya, outside Seville. And they lead lives which are even more restricted, both physically and psychologically, and more cloistered than when I was there.

Number 4 Almirante Ulloa was the first address we found. It’s the house from which I left to return home to New Zealand when I was thirty-seven. Today, it's a university hall of residency, called Santa Ana, and it's been remodelled and refurbished. 

I didn't go sightseeing when I was a nun so I enjoyed sitting beside the Guadalquiver river.

My intense enthusiasm to find familiar road signs and doorways didn’t really make sense. After all, why bother – after twenty-five years? But my life as a Carmelite had been extreme. And, the experience has taken years to unravel. Somehow, walking those familiar cobblestones and corridors again was helpful. I did lots of laughing and joking and reminiscing and recreating. 

Over the next few days Nick and I behaved like ardent explorers, digging into the very heart of the city: conquering heights showcasing Seville’s extraordinary history, capturing emotion and flamenco madness, savouring, mingling, imbibing. 

Thanks for reading up to here. My next newsletter will be coming to you sometime in the Southern Hemisphere winter.