Portuguese Bridges

Monday, 8th August 2005 by

Portugal has some pretty cool bridges!

First up is the Arrábida Bridge over the Douro River in Porto. The bridge is 493 metres long, and at the time of its construction in 1963 it had the largest concrete span of any bridge in the world. If you look closely on the eastern side you can see the curve of the arch underneath the bridge (compare with the image on Wikipedia to see what I mean).

Arrábida Bridge

Next up is the Ponte 25 de Abril, which crosses the Tagus river in Lisbon. It was originally named Salazar Bridge but after the Carnation Revolution, the bridge was renamed to 25 April Bridge, the day when the revolution occurred. It's interesting to have a look at the north side of the shore, where the bridge curves spectacularly over loads of buildings before it eventually touches down (Wikipedia page). We couldn't work out what this monument on the south bank was though… This monument on the south bank is the Monumento do Cristo-Rei, an imitation of the more famous statue in Rio.

Ponte 25 de Abril Monumento do Cristo-Rei

Finally we have the spectacular Vasco da Gama Bridge, which also crosses Lisbon's Tagus river, but at a much wider point! The Vasco da Gama has a total length of over 17 kilometres and is the longest bridge in Europe. Again, there's a rather cool curve visible in this one and some cool shadows too (Wikipedia page).

Vasco da Gama Bridge

Thanks to Manuel Freitas, Bodo Möller, Jan Brasna, grufo and Joao Ramires.