Limeni bay

Limeni is the old port of Oitylo, a narrow cove where the Mani's grey stone meets water so clear and shallow that the rocks on the bottom read from the road above. The houses are the region's tower type — square, three or four storeys, tiny windows — and several stand directly on the shore with their foundations in the sea, which is what makes the place look like nowhere else in the Peloponnese.

Three frames work here. From the road as it drops in from Areopoli you get the whole cove with the towers on the far side. On the quay itself you can put a couple against a tower wall a metre from the water. And from the flat rocks on the north side you shoot back across the bay with the boats and the towers stacked behind.

The bay opens west across the Messenian gulf, so it holds light late and takes a full sunset over the water; morning is flat here. It is a working village with hotels built into the towers, and the quay is narrow, so keep out of the taverna service line at lunch. Parking is on the road above — the last stretch to the water is on foot.