Sant Bartomeu church and the seafront

Sitges is forty minutes from Barcelona and looks nothing like it. The parish church sits on a low rock directly above the water, and it is the town's whole identity — visible from every beach, lit at night, and photographable from three completely different angles within a few minutes' walk.

Behind it the old town is narrow and white, with a Modernista streak left over from the artists who summered here in the 1890s. In front, a promenade of palms runs the length of the seafront.

The church faces roughly south-east over the water, so it takes early light on its face. At sunset you shoot it against the sky from the western beaches instead — two different photographs depending which end of the day you pick.