Three Bridges and a Jacaranda Allée

21 May 2009

Seven bridges cross the Rio Guadalquivir in Sevilla. Four are purely utilitarian; three are elegant.

The opening photo shows the Puente de Isabel II Triana taken from the north at dusk several days ago. It was designed and engineered by Gustavo Steinacher and Ferdinand Bernadet and constructed ca 1850. It crosses the river near midtown.



The other two bridges in this post cross the river at the north end of the city. These were built during the late 1980s and early 1990s in preparation for the 1992 Exposition. The more southerly is Puente de la Barqueta. The design has red cables extending more or less vertically from the graceful forked arch.



The most northerly bridge, Puente del Alamillo, is the most dramatic. The style is called "cantilever spar cable stayed." Ingrid refers to it as the harp bridge. It was this bridge that I tried to reach from the west bank of the river a few days ago. Today, we approached it from the east bank and were thrilled to find a pedestrian walkway and bike path along the bridge's centerline. In the second photo of this bridge, taken from the pedestrian path, the cables suggest strands of a spider's web.



The dominant street trees in Sevilla are jacaranda and orange. Arriving two weeks ago, we were too late for the scent of orange blossoms, but our timing was perfect for the lavender bloom of the jacarandas. The purple-carpeted passageway shown at the bottom was taken from the east side of Rio Guadalquivir just south of Puente del Alamillo on a wide pathway that borders the arterial road.