Plaza de la Virgen at blue hour

This is the square Valencia was founded around: Roman forum, then cathedral, then the basilica of the Virgen de los Desamparados with its ochre dome. In the middle sits the Turia fountain, a bronze river god surrounded by eight women holding water jars — the eight irrigation channels of the huerta. The Micalet bell tower closes the view on one side, the cathedral's Gothic apse on the other.

The square is small enough that a wide lens gets fountain, dome and tower in one frame, and warm enough in colour that skin tones look good with no correction. It also works for movement — the pigeons lift in a block, and the terraces give a foreground of ordinary city life.

Blue hour is the moment. The floodlights come up on the dome and the apse while the sky is still blue rather than black, and the wet stone around the fountain picks it all up. The other window is early morning, before nine: the terraces are not yet set out, the square is empty and the low sun comes over the rooftops onto the basilica.

Midday is the one to avoid — awnings, queues and hard shadow. In the week of Fallas in March the square is the centre of the flower offering and is impassable for photography; and if you want elevation, the Micalet can be climbed by a spiral stair with its own hours and ticket, so check them.