El Pont del Diable

One of my Favorite days Spent in Catalunya was Made possible by our new Friend Marc (the guy with the umbrella) who took us by car to see a piece of a Roman Aqueduct, a rock quarry and the numerous impressive roman ruins in in the city of Tarragona. I had seen pictures of this aqueduct in travel guides. I didn't really expect there would be a way for us to see it. When Marc offered to take us I was very excited, and i assumed we would drive to a look out point and get out of the car and "view" it in the distance. But when we pulled off the road I couldn't really see it. We followed some signs and before i realized what was happening we were close enough to touch it and we did, and there was no one there to tell us not to or to take 10 euros from us and give us a map, It was amazing, and then we realized that we could walk across it. I couldn't believe it! the fact that it was pretty much pouring rain meant we had the whole thing to ourselves, it also meant that to cross this amazing stone structure built by the Romans to carry water, you had to get your feet wet because it was still up to the task and water was filling the channel(specus) of the bridge. In my mind it was worth ever soggy step. It was fascinating to be standing on something built so long ago and still so sturdy there are bridges i cross in Boston that terrify me they are falling apart, little pieces crumbling away falling into the river, this bridge did not worry me in the least i had every confidence that it would still be there long after i am gone. From the bridge you could look out and see more recent feats of engineering a free way (i don't know what they call them in Spain. ah i found it, it was the A7 motorway) over pass and a toll booth with traffic backing up, cars idling in the rain, going, going, but i think not lasting, not like this "devils bridge" I was quite impressed over all with what a culture can do with plenty of expendable slave labour. Standing there though i was very impressed with the people who dreamed of the aqueducts and engineered that bridge, even if they did use slaves to build it.


(one of my favorite pictures manipulated on photoshop)

Here is a bit of information on he Francolí aqueduct bridge also know as Les Ferreres and popularly called El Pont del Diable.
Built in the 1st century BC the Francoli Aquaduct brought water to Tarragona from the Francoli River, starting near Puigdelfi, at an altitude of 92 metres above sea level, and taking advantage, as much as possible, of the natural slope of the land. at the ravine known as Ferreres the Romans built the bridge allowing the water to continue across unhindered. The bridge is about 712 feet long and around 88 feet tall at its tallest. It is composed of two levels of arches stacked one upon the other 11 arches on the bottom and 25 on top "all with the same diameter of 20 Roman feet(19.35 ft)