Woman in an orange dress and sunglasses leaning on the railing of the seaside boulevard
by Aylin Hasanli -

Mornings on the seaside boulevard

The seaside boulevard runs for kilometres along the bay, and before nine in the morning it belongs to runners, old men fishing off the railings and a few of us who simply like to walk.

I go most days in summer. The air still has some of the night’s cool in it, the water is flat and silver, and the towers across the bay look almost soft in the haze.

My route

I start near the funicular, walk west along the water to the little pier with the blue benches, and come back through the park when the sun starts to bite. It takes about an hour with a stop for tea.

By ten the city is loud and bright. At eight it is still yours.

Woman in a straw hat looking over the city from a shady garden
by Aylin Hasanli -

Finding the shade: my favourite city gardens

By two o’clock in July the streets are too hot for anything but getting from one air-conditioned door to the next. So I go where the trees are.

The city has more green corners than people expect: terraced gardens on the hill, old courtyards with fig trees, and a long park that follows the seafront.

Where I go

My favourite is the terraced garden on the hill, where the paths zigzag up through pines and you can see the whole bay between the branches. Bring a book, a big hat and more water than you think.