Friday 14 June 2013

Roman Bridges

Next to churches (with storks) the other ubiquitous painting subject were the ancient bridges along the Camino. I would have liked to paint more of them, but alas, the pressure to get the walking done often trumped sketching. We encountered many of these Roman built structures and some sections of old Roman roads as well. Aside from the astonishing age of the structure they were always surprisingly narrow.  Less material to construct and easier to defend, I imagine.  I guess if you know what you are doing the stone is inert and will last indefinitely as long as the joints are well done and distribute the load evenly.

The upper sketch was done at the end of one of the hotter days as I soaked by swollen feet in the icy cold river.  The lower one was a quick morning break sitting on the grass beside the trail, looking back as the stream of perigrinos paused and flowed over the bridge.

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