Why it looks like this

Few capitals sit so hard against a border: Lomé's street grid begins essentially at the Ghana frontier and the Atlantic beach, spreading inland and eastward from that corner. German, then French colonial rule built the port and the gridded old quarter by the shore.

The border is part of daily life — the crossing at Aflao is effectively at the end of a city street — and the port, the region's deep-water hub, anchors the city's economy along the coastal highway.