Along with the city's soaring church spires and distinctive orange roofs, they are a key element of the Estonian capital's striking skyline.
Since local officials learned a month ago that President Clinton would be coming to this splendid Spanish colonial port of soaring church steeples and mounted cannons, they have rushed into a breathless urban renewal campaign perhaps not seen since Sir Francis Drake sacked the city in 1586.
Neither woman showed any bitterness as they guided a visitor through the cobblestone streets of their remarkably preserved city, with its soaring church spires and carefully tended medieval buildings.
Nearly every pew of the soaring church — still decorated with Christmas wreaths — was filled.
With its soaring church spire, pastel-coloured chalets and splendid lakeside location, Hallstatt looks every inch a picture-postcard alpine town – a place that echoes with the sound of cowbells and yodelling, every windowbox overflowing with edelweiss.
Although it is one of those places that has always been known best for being on the way to somewhere else, and despite its being a bit of a ghost town since the boot and shoe trade was outsourced to the emerging nations, there are plenty of reasons beyond its soaring church spire (15th century, perp).
Pass beneath the ruins of its massive Roman aqueduct, to discover an ancient walled city filled with medieval squares, soaring churches, and a storybook castle.
This oblivion has paid dividends though, and today it's a perfectly preserved collection of colonial mansions, elegant plazas and soaring churches with a still-tiny tourist industry.
Morning: See the City Explore Granada in the cool of the morning, when the remarkable light brings out the best in the ancient adobes and soaring churches.
The museum abuts a soaring Gothic church that serves the Roman Catholic archbishop of Utrecht, who has kept out of the debate.
