A stranger knocks on your door, asking for directions from your home to the closest gas station (or café, or library. Your pick!). Instead of the fastest and shortest route, give him/her the one involving the most fun detours.

Impossible. I live in the middle of the Old City of Pamplona in a square called San Francisco, where everything is at sight. We have a school, a library, several café with tables and chairs on the street, a restaurant, a grocery and several shops. My square communicates with a smaller square where there are an ancient fountain and a nice hotel. It’s difficult to misdirect someone.

Besides, all the fun is around here. Right now I’m hearing the sound of the bells of the nearby gothic church, whose tower I can see from my balcony, mixed with street music and the screams of the kids playing in the little park. We have music and street performers every weekend. The streets around us have a lot of night life.

So if a stranger comes asking for directions for a gas station (the only facility we don’t have nearby) I think that the most fun detour would be to invite him to forget the gas station and stay with us in our square instead.

Circuitous Paths.