The ancient agora

Kos Town sits on top of an ancient city shaken down by earthquakes, and the agora is where that past lies open to the sky: one of the largest market sites of the ancient world, now a long green enclosure of re-erected columns, exposed foundations and marble lying where it fell, with palms and cypresses growing up between. Unlike the island's famous Asklepion, it is right in town — the harbour is a two-minute walk.

The site is the rare kind that stays photographically workable all day, because the beaches absorb the island's crowds; even in August a session here shares the ruins with a handful of wanderers. Low sun is still better — early morning or the last two hours, when the light rakes the column drums and the grass, and the couple can be placed against clean stone with real depth behind them.

Work it simply: wide frames down the colonnade lines, tight frames using a single column or arch as one edge, and the walk itself between them. Ground rules apply as at any open ruin — stay off the walls and fallen architraves, keep to the worn paths, and the site keeps tolerating everyone.