Portugal. A Very Neat Place. Porto. Part Two. (Structures) (September 2019)
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Porto is sometimes called "the City of Bridges," for good reason. The double-deck metal arch Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River is the strikingly attractive poster-child for Porto's bridges. It was designed by Theophile Seyrig, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel. Construction began in 1881. The bridge went into service in 1886. It is 279 feet high. The top deck now serves Porto's metro line; the paved lower deck carries vehicular traffic.
The equally graceful single-deck Maria Pia railroad bridge is half-a-mile upstream. Its design is attributed to Eiffel and Seyrig. It entered service in 1877, but is now unused. Its elevation is 200 feet.
A study base anchors the north side of the Dom Luis I Bridge arch:
The Dom Luis I Bridge
A funicular runs from street level to the top level of the Dom Luis I Bridge. It offers great views of the bridge and the river.
Upstream are two modern bridges and between them is the Maria Pia Bridge, now retired.
Porto trams cross the Douro on the upper deck of the Dom Luis I Bridge
Below left: Porto and the Douro River looking west, downstream, from the bridge; below right: the view from the top deck looking east. A funicular begins near the crosswalk.
The Douro rolls deep between its granite banks through central Porto. This is a panorama of merged images taken from the bridge. The little arches depicted at the sides hold overhead electrical lines for the trams.
The Dom Luis I Bridge at night:
The bridge as seen in a panorama of merged images taken from the south bank:
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.