Walk past the last streetlight on the steppe and the quiet arrives all at once, with wind in dry grass, an open sky and a horizon that makes your own thoughts sound loud. That stillness sits beside stone-walled old quarters, where history lives in courtyards and the worn steps of market lanes.

The coast is greener and wetter, the interior drier, and the far southeast a true desert. Spring and autumn are gentler months for walking. A Local Friend can turn a list of places into a day that makes sense, with a quiet hour in open country and a warm, noisy hour at the table.