The Bolonia dune and Baelo Claudia

The Bolonia dune is a wall of fine white sand at the western end of the bay, pushed inland by the levante until it began burying the pine wood behind it. Climbing it takes ten unglamorous minutes; from the crest you get the whole bay, the pines below and, across the strait, the coast of Morocco.

On the beach itself stands Baelo Claudia, a Roman town excavated almost to street level — forum, basilica, temples, a theatre and the tanks where they salted tuna, with columns re-erected against the sea. It is one of very few places in Europe where classical ruins and an open beach share one frame.

The bay faces roughly south-west, so late afternoon lights the dune from the side and gives it texture; at midday it is a flat white slab. First light works too, with long shadows across the ripples and nobody's footprints in them yet.

The dune is a protected natural monument: keep to the marked routes, and expect the sand to move — in strong levante it is genuinely uncomfortable to stand on. Baelo Claudia is a fenced archaeological site with opening hours, tickets and its own rules on photography, so check them before building a session around it.