The Marktplatz

Hallstatt's Marktplatz is tiny by any standard, a cobbled square barely thirty paces across, ringed by narrow-fronted houses in ochre, cream, pink and green, most of them rebuilt after the fire of 1750 and all of them leaning slightly into one another. The Holy Trinity column stands in the middle, and the flower boxes on the first-floor windows carry the colour from spring to October.

Because the Salzberg rises immediately behind, the square is in soft shade for most of the day and never gets the harsh contrast that ruins the lake views at noon — which makes it the sensible place to be exactly when the classic viewpoint is unusable. The colour of the render does the work instead of the light.

It is also the busiest square metre in the village between ten and four, with the cafés' tables out and a steady current of visitors crossing it. Early morning empties it completely; the hour before dusk half-empties it and turns on the lanterns. The alleys running off it — up the steps towards the church, down to the water — give the same houses without the crowd.

In winter the boxes are bare and the square is quiet, with snow on the cobbles and the lit windows doing what the flowers do in summer. It is public ground and needs nothing, but the café terraces are not: ask before you use one as a set.