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We’ve all been in a new city and obtained a map showing locations of various sites. On a trip my wife, Anne, and I made to Seville, Spain, in April-May ’11, we made sure to get a map, then note that on its table of hotels, ours was number 61.

After a morning tour with our group, we visited the Alcazar on our own. We saw many women dressed in bright flamenco outfits accessorized with matching flowers in their hair and jewelry. They were riding in horse-drawn carriages accompanied by men dressed in fancy clothes.

We decided to follow the crowd and ended up at the Feria de Abril (April Fair, or Spring Fair), a six-day party held in the southwest part of the city. (It’s usually held two weeks after Holy Week; in 2012 it takes place April 24-29.) We spent about an hour on the grounds watching the crowd and then decided to walk to our hotel.

We headed toward “61” on our map, and after about an hour and a half we were there… but the neighborhood looked nothing like that around our hotel. At the place where “61” was supposed to be was the Santa Marina Church. It was “61” all right, Monument No. 61!

On our map were two tables, one listing hotels and one listing monuments. I had noted our hotel’s number on the map but never confirmed that the address of the hotel matched that of the number I picked.

Our hotel was on the other side of the city. We decided to continue our extended walking tour and arrived at the proper location in another two hours. In retrospect, it was a great way to explore Seville, and we still marvel at the number of beautifully dressed women we saw that day regardless of where we were.

JACK DINI
Livermore, CA