ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL BRIDGES
Ponte de Lima
"It has a large and beautiful bridge long and spacious, with many pillars rising from a river running along called the Lima, and twelve walled and watched towers, and people always around, except at night, when all the doors are closed with stone, except that of the bridge, and many groceries and goods are safe...”"
Fernão Lopes, Chronica d'El-Rei D. João I, Vol. IV, B. de Classicos Portuguezes, Lisboa, 1897
"But whether it was built in the time of King Pedro I, or in the time of his predecessor, it is certain that, when completed, with two towers or castles, collapsed in 1857-1858, and battlements, it represented the only military architecture model of its kind in our country.
It is a building of great strength because it has withstood the action of many centuries and violent clashes, the Lima waters weight and incalculable during the winter floods, transformed into a respectable, huge and mighty ocean inlet. It measures 277m length and about 4m wide; and has, in addition to those grounded on the part of the village, 16 large arches and 14 narrow, opened in the piers."
Miguel Roque dos Reis Lemos, in Anais Municipais de Ponte de Lima, (2º edição) 1977
"Jacobo Sobieski, father of John III, future king of Poland, to complete his education followed a common habit among the nobility of his country, and spent six years of his youth on a journey through Europe. In 1611, passed through Ponte Lima, coming from Santiago de Compostela, and later, in writing his memoirs made a comment that is worth quoting:
Ponte de Lima, five miles from Valença, has a stone bridge, quite wide and long, of such a great beauty that, in my opinion, we will find no other in the entire Christendom of equal work, beauty and magnificence."
António Matos Reis, in Vale do Lima, um rio dois países, ADRIL 2001