I grew up in farm country in north-central Iowa, where the most prevalent focal points are corn fields and soybean fields, with the occasional farmstead dotting the horizon. In the winter it all turns white.
Don’t get me wrong, Iowa is a beautiful place, especially when it is under a blanket of snow. But it is also some of the flattest land in the world. Or at least it seemed that way to me.
Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to images like Lioness and Blue and Golden Bridge. Maybe that’s why I’m so taken by images like this one of the Dom Luis I Bridge, a double-deck metal arch bridge across the River Douro in Porto, Portugal.
Porto, after which Port wine is named, is a beautiful little city that has an old town area called the Ribeira district, which includes the hill next to the riverfront on both sides of this bridge.
This Dom Luis I Bridge was built in the late 1800’s and is another example of the combination of engineering and design that creates a functioning work of art. Interestingly, it has a connection to Gustave Eiffel, famous for being the architect who conceived of and built the Eiffel Tower. It was influenced by another bridge in Porto, the Maria Pia railway bridge. That bridge was designed by Eiffel and Théophile Seyrig. The Dom Luis I bridge was conceived of and built by Seyreg.
There are beautiful bridges in Iowa, including the famous covered bridges in Madison County. I will have to seek them out on my next trip back to Iowa.