The ruins of Anavatos

Anavatos is built up a spur of rock in the middle of the island, house on house, each one's roof forming the terrace of the next, until the top of the village sits on a cliff that falls away vertically on three sides. It was a refuge, and its history is grim: the village never recovered from the massacre of 1822 and has been left to stand ever since, with only a handful of residents.

What remains is one of the strongest sets of shapes in the Aegean. Empty doorways, worn stairways between the houses, walls with nothing behind them but air. Because the stone is the same colour as the rock, the whole hill reads as a single mass, and a figure in colour on the steps is the only thing the eye goes to.

The first hour and the last hour are both good: low sun models the stacked walls and separates one level from the next, while at noon the village goes flat and grey. Sunset light on the western face is the classic. Winter and spring add green to the hills around it, which helps enormously.

The upper part of the village has been consolidated in places and closed in others; stairs are uneven, edges are unguarded and there are no railings at the cliff. Sensible shoes, and check which sections are open when you arrive.