On the first walk after arrival, it is tempting to put on the playlist you made for the trip. The city then appears through music you already know, as if it has agreed to match the opening scene in your head.
Try giving it a few unscored minutes. Hear how people cross a square, where conversation gathers, how a door closes behind you. A delivery trolley on paving stones may tell you more about the street's working morning than the song you selected at home.
This is not a test of travel purity. Headphones can provide comfort in an unfamiliar place. But putting them away briefly makes it easier to notice directions, traffic, announcements, and the practical rhythms that help you understand where you are.
You may find music anyway: a shop radio, someone practicing upstairs, a melody from a passing car. These fragments do not amount to the official sound of the city. They are simply part of the particular route you took at a particular hour.
Later, add your own listening. The playlist will sit against something you have actually heard, rather than supplying the whole picture. A place becomes more interesting when it gets a chance to interrupt the story you brought with you.
