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Old
stone bridges |
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Before the trip my neighbour Steinar and I (Jan) had
to Greece in the end of March/the beginning of April 1999, we of
course were searching for information on what we could look forward to
experience on this tour. Several times we came across pictures of
great, old stone bridges. For one reason or another it became important
to pay these bridges a visit, along with all the other sights we were
planning to look up. Therefore a page full of the bridges we came
across will presented. The photos will show that is wasn't especially
"green" in the area when we were present. The area is
situated so far north and high above the sea-level, that all the
deciduous trees probably got their leaves quite some time after the
pictures were taken. We were actually walking through small snowdrifts
when we were in the upper mountain-villages in the area situated from
600 up to 700 m above this river.
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This is a bridge over the river Voidomatis. It’s this river you're walking along when strolling down trough the well-known valley Vikos gorge. The valley is at least known for those who are searching for exiting mountains and hiking-trips in Greece. The bridge is situated near the place where many people start their trip. You can find paths both leading upwards and downwards, along this river. Today you can find a new bridge constructed for cars at the same place, only 50 m from this old and incredibly great stone bridge. Below you can see another photo of the same bridge, taken from the opposite side. |
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The area this bridge is situated in is
called The Zagorohoria, or short Zagoria. It’s situated far in the
northwest of Greece, in the part called Epiros. The region Zagoria
lies north of the University City of Ioannina, almost by the border to
Albania. This is an area with high mountains and deep valleys. Here it
is 44 mountain-villages, which are known to be made solely out of
stone. The houses are built with thick stonewalls and stone-tiles for
roof. The bridges are built in almost the same manner; they’ve only
made use of stone - no cement or other binding materials. The stones
are just piled up so they support each other and are able to bear the
weight of the arch. The fact that these bridges are situated in an
area often struck by earthquakes, only proves that this is a solid way
of constructing bridges. You can find more old stone bridges here.
Another great one can be viewed on the next photo.
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This bridge is located just below the mountain-village of Kipi |
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On our way heading south along the West Coast of Greece, we just had to stop and get a glimpse of the old stone bridge in Arta. And eventually take a photo of the bridge across Lousios River just below the city of Stemnítsa at Peloponnes. We didn't get the chance to view them on the roundtrip in 1999 due to illness, but luckily we did on the roundtrip at Peloponnes in spring 2000. |
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| Thanks to Agnar Hatlevik, Stavanger for his translation into English! | |
| © Jan Bergtun, 11 May 2001 | Updated, 12.20.2007 |
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