Arachova's stone lanes

Arachova is ten minutes uphill from Delphi and gives a session everything the archaeological site cannot: doorways, stairways, café tables, geraniums and ordinary life going on around you. The village is built along one contour of Parnassus, so nearly every lane either climbs or drops, and the roofs of the houses below become the floor of the next photograph.

The main street runs through the middle, lined with shops selling wool blankets, formaella cheese and honey. Step off it in either direction and the lanes narrow into stone stairways between houses. The clock tower on the rock above the village is the classic viewpoint over the red roofs and down the gorge.

It is a ski town in winter and an Athens weekend town all year, so Saturdays are busy and midweek mornings almost empty. In summer it is noticeably cooler than the valley, which makes it a comfortable second half to a Delphi morning.

The light is best in the last hour, when the sun runs along the slope and the stone turns warm; at midday the narrow lanes are all contrast. Wear shoes with grip — the lanes are steep, the stone is polished and there are a great many steps.