Alghero — the sea walls at sunset

Alghero faces west, which on an island where most of the famous coast faces east is the whole point: the Bastioni Marco Polo and Cristoforo Colombo run along the top of the sea wall, and at sunset the stone, the palms and the towers all go warm at once, with the water behind.

Inside the walls the old town is narrow, paved and Catalan rather than Italian — street signs in two languages, dark stone doorways, small squares. It photographs best in the hour before the light goes, when the lanes hold reflected warmth instead of hard shadow, and again after dark under the lamps.

Capo Caccia, half an hour north-west, closes the day with a cliff view over the bay if you want the landscape version. Both are ordinary public spaces, so a small session needs nothing more than a bit of care with the passeggiata crowd on the bastions.