Close Behind

Mykonos, Madeira, Machu Picchu, Mount Sinai, Adam’s Peak, Mount Fuji and Sant Antoni in Ibiza: seven skies that come up again and again in the same lists, just behind the ten most famous.

Each sky as it is seen from the horizon upwards: six bands from the warm glow of the horizon to the top of the sky, then the sun and the landscape. They are read from freely licensed photographs of each place, taken as inspiration; the sky changes every day, so these are one evening or one morning, not the only true colours.

7 skies56 colors
GuideWhy the sky turns red at sunset

Chora, Mykonos

Greece · sunset

The main town of Mykonos, in the Cyclades. The Greek National Tourism Organisation describes its Little Venice, “where houses with colourful wooden balconies are literally built against the sea”, and its windmills, “the island’s trademark”, overlooking the Aegean.

The sun sets into the Aegean behind a whitewashed church: dusty pink and sand low over the horizon, a pale grey-blue above, and a long path of gold on the water.

Chora, Mykonos · horizon

Chora, Mykonos · just above the horizon

Chora, Mykonos · lower sky

Chora, Mykonos · middle sky

Chora, Mykonos · upper sky

Chora, Mykonos · top of the sky

Chora, Mykonos · sun

Chora, Mykonos · landscape

Porto Moniz, Madeira

Portugal · sunset

The village on the north coast of Madeira known for its natural pools, which Visit Madeira, the island’s tourist board, describes as formed over millennia by the cooling of lava and constantly renewed by the sea.

A cloudy Atlantic evening: the sun hides behind the clouds and lights their edges in cream and gold, the sky above turns slate, and the volcanic rock and the sea fall into shadow.

Porto Moniz, Madeira · horizon

Porto Moniz, Madeira · just above the horizon

Porto Moniz, Madeira · lower sky

Porto Moniz, Madeira · middle sky

Porto Moniz, Madeira · upper sky

Porto Moniz, Madeira · top of the sky

Porto Moniz, Madeira · sun

Porto Moniz, Madeira · landscape

Machu Picchu

Peru · sunrise

The Inca city perched high in the mountains, between the high Andes and the Peruvian Amazon. According to PromPerú, Peru’s tourist board, it was planned and built around 1450, during the reign of the Inca Pachakuteq.

Here the sunrise is not fire but blue: the sun comes over the mountains into a clear sky, a blue haze fills the valleys, and the first light reaches the grass of the terraces in olive green.

Machu Picchu · horizon

Machu Picchu · just above the horizon

Machu Picchu · lower sky

Machu Picchu · middle sky

Machu Picchu · upper sky

Machu Picchu · top of the sky

Machu Picchu · sun

Machu Picchu · landscape

Mount Sinai

Egypt · sunrise

The “God-trodden mountain”, as the monastery at its foot calls it: Saint Catherine’s, beneath the Mount of the Decalogue, which describes itself as the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, with a history of more than seventeen centuries.

The sun rises over a sea of desert ridges: high up the sky glows apricot and pale yellow, while a grey haze sits low over the mountains, which stay almost black.

Mount Sinai · horizon

Mount Sinai · just above the horizon

Mount Sinai · lower sky

Mount Sinai · middle sky

Mount Sinai · upper sky

Mount Sinai · top of the sky

Mount Sinai · sun

Mount Sinai · landscape

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada)

Sri Lanka · sunrise

The sacred conical mountain of central Sri Lanka, 2,243 metres high. Pilgrims climb it by night to be at the top at sunrise, and the busiest season is April, according to the Living Heritage Trust.

The colour of this sunrise is a shadow: from the summit, with the sun at your back, the mountain casts a triangle of shadow on the haze of the plain, and it slides quickly downwards as the sun rises.

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · horizon

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · just above the horizon

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · lower sky

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · middle sky

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · upper sky

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · top of the sky

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · shadow of the peak

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) · landscape

Mount Fuji

Japan · sunrise

Japan’s highest mountain, 3,776 metres according to the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Many climbers aim to see goraikō, “the holy sunrise”, near the summit; on the Yoshida trail it can be seen from anywhere above the sixth station (Yamanashi Prefecture).

From the top, the sun rises over a sea of clouds: a thin pink line on the horizon, a band of dark cloud above it, then a sky that pales into lilac and blue, while the clouds below stay grey.

Mount Fuji · horizon

Mount Fuji · just above the horizon

Mount Fuji · lower sky

Mount Fuji · middle sky

Mount Fuji · upper sky

Mount Fuji · top of the sky

Mount Fuji · sun

Mount Fuji · landscape

Sant Antoni, Ibiza

Spain · sunset

Sant Antoni de Portmany, in the north-west of Ibiza. The Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana describes its plain sloping towards the west, where it opens onto the sea in a wide bay: the bay of Portmany looks straight at the sunset.

A sunset of fire: the whole sky turns orange low down and coral and mauve towards the top, the sun stays a small yellow disc down to the water, and the sea takes on the same burnt orange.

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · horizon

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · just above the horizon

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · lower sky

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · middle sky

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · upper sky

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · top of the sky

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · sun

Sant Antoni, Ibiza · landscape

Pigmentoria is an independent colour atlas. Each palette is our own reading of freely licensed photographs of the place, taken as inspiration; the sky changes every day, with the season, the weather and the dust in the air, so no palette is the only true one. Place and monument names are used descriptively only; no park, monument or authority has sponsored or reviewed this content.