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Co-Equal
Above, below, and in-between
If you ever get a chance, always climb to the highest peak, building, or tower you can in any given city. The perspective from “on high” will show you the warts, bumps, beauty, and glamour you don’t quite get from street level. Something about being in the in-between, existing in the space between the birds and humans, sets the stage for exploring the seams and cracks of the places you visit.
Looking out at Barcelona, atop the Basilíca de Santa Maria del Mar, you’re rewarded with the distant vistas of La Sagrada de Familia, the Torre Glòries tower with its shape reminiscent of London’s Gherkin tower, and various other churches and buildings interposed between. It’s not altogether unfamiliar from the pictures of Lisbon from last year’s storytelling, but between topology and layout, there’s enough of a difference to matter.
The Basilíca allows access to the roof via a small door in one of the two main towers at the end of the church proper. It’s a climb up narrow stone stairs, pigeons occasionally dive-bombing into the nooks and holes in the walls not blocked by chicken wire, and with several stops along the way. You’re greeted with different views depending on your journey; the first stop is midway up the facade of the building and offers a just-above-building-height view into the surrounding squares of the Gothic Quarter. People…
