As I continue my walk along the Camino de Santiago, I make time to visit many of the ancient culture treasures along the way. In this case, the treasure is actually right under my feet. The Pontesampaio Bridge crosses the Verdugo River just north of Arcade and the Camino travels across this ancient structure.
The foundation of the bridge is Roman. The first written references to the bridge date back to the 10th century when it belonged to the Counts of Burgundy. A mythical fortress called San Paio de Lodo supposedly stood very near here at that time. The Muslim military leader Almanzor is thought to have crossed the bridge and destroyed the fortress defending it.
The structure it self spans 144 meters across the river and has tented pointed arches with large starlings between them. It was extensively modified in the 16th and 18th centuries and now supports automobile traffic. Though as I stand here admiring the history of this structure and watching as cars drive over the narrow bridge, I wonder what kind of system is in place to control the direction of traffic. The bridge is only wide enough for a single car and if two were to drive onto the bridge from opposite directions, one would necessarily have to back all the way up to where it came from. I'm sure there is some system in place. Perhaps day of the week or hour of the day. It's been a long day with a lot of walking and for now, I'm going to throttle my curiosity of such things, find my hotel, and relax.
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