some of the vistas down long and unbending streets , or through side alleys and over bulbous domes , spires , and arabesqued roofs , were weird and beautiful beyond words ; and nothing was more splendid than the massive heights of the great central temple of the elder ones with its sixteen carven sides , its flattened dome , and its lofty pinnacled belfry , overtopping all else , and majestic whatever its foreground .