Perched high on a hill overlooking the Old Town, Quito’s Basilica is well worth the climb. In the grand Ecuadorian tradition of church-building, it is still unfinished after over 100 years of construction, but reopened fairly recently for services in its cavernous interior. The view from high atop one of the Gothic structure’s main towers is the real attraction of the Basilica, though. Accessible via an unlikely elevator and a series of steep ladders, you pass behind the great clock face to find the city and surrounding mountains spread out below you. Looking down across the tiled roofs and spires of the colonial quarter to the mound of the Winged Virgin “Panecillo,” you feel like you too could take flight.

At the corner of Calle Venezuela and Carchí

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