Mapas de Malaga

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe on the Plaza Merced in the old Centro Historico of Malaga. As I walked around the narrow streets in the Centro Historico, I reflected on how useful a map of the district is. The streets in the area are very narrow, and the buidings very tall. Sunlight rarely permeates down to street level. So unless one has an inate sense of direction, which I very certainly do not, it can be really difficult to know whether one is going north, south, east or west.

I remember when I lived in Teheran all those years ago, getting one´s bearings was easy because the whole city sloped gradually from north to south.

But although Malaga has high mountains behind it and, obviously, the sea at its other edge, the city itself is relatively flat. So by the time I have turned left, right, left and right again, I have no idea whether I am going in the same direction or in the opposite direction. If I am lucky, I might get back to the place from where I stated.

But of course a map allows me to continue to where I am headed and get there in a reasonably straight line. Provided of course I am on foot.

In a car, with directions made even more difficulat by one way streets, I often take a huge unplanned detour. But now satnav will prevent such difficulties. All I need to do is learn Spanish. Now is ´izquierda´ left or right?