Greece

The late Ken Black, retired Coast Guard Officer and avid collector and exhibiter of all things lighthouse, liked to preface his public talks with an amusing observation: "Lighthouses are like people: they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors." Always offered with a mischievous grin, Black's quip is absolutely true. The world's shorelines are not only made safer by lighthouses but also more beautiful and culturally unique because of the diverse lighthouse designs seen today and throughout history.

Late in the day, the April wind swept in from the Gulf of Evia and wrapped its clamorous arms around the old stonework of the lighthouse. The closed heavy green shutters on the north windows of the structure rattled forcefully, as if at any moment they might leap off their hinges and disappear into the dark water below. I held my hand against the window next to my bunk and felt the cold air sneaking in around the frame. An errant tree limb scratched the outside wall like a visitor asking to be let in, and something banged in the tower 39-feet above me.