Mavra Volia, the black beach at Emporios

Mavra Volia means black pebbles, and that is exactly what it is: three linked coves south of Emporios floored entirely in smooth, dark volcanic stones, backed by cliffs of rusty red rock. The stones came from an eruption on the Anatolian side of the strait, and the effect is a beach that looks nothing like the rest of the Aegean.

Colour is the whole point here. Black ground, red rock, deep blue water and a person in white or a strong colour — there is no more graphic beach in the North Aegean, and it works just as well in flat overcast light as in sun. Wet pebbles at the waterline turn glossy and reflective, which is worth a low camera position.

Because the stones are dark they absorb heat, so on a July afternoon the beach is genuinely hot underfoot; the first cove has some sunbeds and a canteen, and the two further along are quieter and unserviced. The shore shelves steeply — the water is deep almost immediately, which is why it reads so dark.

Morning and late afternoon avoid both the heat and the top light. There is very little shade anywhere. Bring something on your feet: the pebbles are large, rounded and hard to walk on, and they get uncomfortably hot in high summer.