belfry

A terrifying symbol of Mayon’s deadly fury is the belfry of a 16th-century Franciscan stone church which protrudes from the ground.

In the intervening years, however, those churches — whose belfries are famously appreciated by the winged mammals — had been illuminated with floodlights.

Even the minaret is buried in the belfry of the church.

In the town of La Paz in Abra, a century-old Christian church was damaged, with parts of its belfry collapsing and some walls cracked, littering the church’s grassy yard with debris, officials said.

I resolved to return for one of the city’s epic festivals; during the Ghent Light Festival, the gilded dragon that’s perched atop the belfry even spits fire — a fitting mascot for such a spirited place.