The Portuguese suspension bridge, which was expected to break a record, took its first hectic walk on the bridge last week in the presence of adventurers with steely nerves.
Last week, the new 516 Arouca Bridge (in the city of Arouca, in Portugal, about an hour’s drive from Porto) opened to the adventurous locals. Portugal claims this to be the world’s longest suspension bridge for pedestrian. Let it be not only the longest but also the scariest bridge.
The bridge has a narrow path of 1,693 feet (about half a kilometre) that hangs between towers more than 570 feet above the roaring Paya River. The walking time of this suspension bridge is estimated from five to 10 minutes. This bridge shakes a little with each step and shows you a view of the Arouca Valley.
“I was a little scared, but it was worth it,” said Hugo Xavier, one of the first people to cross the bridge.
Before this Portuguese bridge, the Kokonoe Yume Bridge in Japan held the record of the longest suspension bridge in the world, which is 1280 feet long. After Japan, the Charles Kuonen Bridge, which opened in Switzerland in 2017 and is 1,621 feet long, was the longest.
“There were a lot of challenges we had to go through … but we did it,” Arouca Mayor Margarida Belm said at the opening last week. “In Portugal there is none; in the world, there is no other bridge like this.”
The suspension bridge of Arouca is part of the small town’s long-term plan to attract more visitors and new residents to the area.
The Arouca Bridge is now open to all travellers with online tickets from around $ 12 to $ 14.
According to the Portuguese embassy, some restrictions remain in place due to the spread of the coronavirus. For some reason, US citizens are not yet allowed to enter the country.