Sensitive to vertigo, refrain.
175 meters above the Paiva River, the world's longest suspension pedestrian bridge opened Thursday in northern Portugal, surpassing with its 516 meters the record set in 2017 by the Charles Kuonen footbridge in the Alps. Swiss.
Connecting two granite escarps located in the municipality of Arouca, to the east of Porto, the bridge is made up of 127 grated trays with metal guardrails with a width of 1.20 meters, connected by steel cables to the shaped pillars. of "V" erected on each side.
It is inspired by the shape of the Inca suspension bridges.
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“Even if the construction of the bridge has been finished for a while, this inauguration is important because it allows us to resume our tourist activity”, declared the mayor of Arouca, Margarida Belem, welcoming the opening of an “attraction fundamental ”for the region.
A pride for the local populations
This part of the banks of the Paiva river already had an 8-kilometer course of wooden footbridges that meander to the bottom of the valley.
Before the official inauguration on Sunday and the opening to tourists the next day, the local population was able to preview the bridge called “516 Arouca”, in reference to its record length.
REUTERS / Violeta Santos Moura VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA
“For Verónica Bernardo, a municipal tourism technician who tested the experience on the new bridge with previous small guided tours, it is the vertical angle of the view provided through this grid that makes the most 'terribly beautiful' the structure ”, reports the Portuguese media Expresso.
To read also IN IMAGES.
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“As a result of my [preparation] work, I have made the crossing several times already - in light rain, in foggy conditions, in sunny conditions - and each of those moments is unique and worth it. coup As for the stress, it always exists, at the beginning, but then it passes with the spectacular landscape ”, he says.
REUTERS / Violeta Santos Moura VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA
“I live here and when I first heard about this bridge project, I didn't really believe it. But today I am very proud to be there ”, commented a resident, Marcio Soares, describing“ a unique experience ”. “I strongly advise you to come even if like me you have vertigo, I must admit that I did not suffer from it at all,” said another resident, Rui Brandao.