The fortified bridge over the Fluvià

What it is

The bridge at Besalú crosses the river Fluvià and is the historic entrance to the town. It has seven uneven arches, resting on the rocks of the riverbed, and a hexagonal defensive tower over the fifth pier, halfway across. You cross it on foot, it is free and always open. It is the image of Besalú, and the first place to go.

Its history, in a few lines

A document from 1075 by Count Bernat already mentions a bridge here, although it is not known whether it was of wood or stone. Part of the foundations and the pier bases may be Romanesque, but almost everything you see is Gothic or rebuilt after floods and wars. Around 1315 a flood of the Fluvià left it in ruins; the cost of rebuilding it was so high that the town's leading men asked James II for help and a toll was imposed for crossing it.

In 1385 Prince John, the future John I, ordered the central tower and a fortified gateway at the entrance to the town to be built. They were finished in February 1390, in the middle of the siege of Besalú by the Count of Armagnac. The floods continued: 1321, 1403, 1421, 1669, 1679 and several in the 18th century. In 1880 the bulwarks, by then in ruins, were pulled down because they blocked the passage of factory machinery. In 1939, in the Republican retreat, the third and fourth arches were blown up. In 1965 the architect Francesc Pons i Sorolla restored it, guided by 19th-century engravings by Jean-Charles Langlois and by a mural in the Casa Llaudes.

What to see

• The tower: hexagonal, with arrow slits at the top.
• The town gateway, at the end of the bridge, where carrer del Pont begins.
• The arches from the bank: go down to the riverside to see the whole bridge, with arches of different sizes and the tower outlined against the town.
• The Manyac rock, beside the bridge, in the riverbed.

Crossing it and looking at it from below takes about twenty minutes. If you stop to photograph it in different light, longer.

Getting there and parking

The old town has regulated traffic and only residents park inside. The Town Council mentions the Pont Vell car park, which is also the starting point for two of its walking routes. The tourist office is at the entrance to the bridge, at carrer del Pont 1. From Girona you can come on the TEISA bus.

When to go

First thing in the morning or at sunset there are fewer people and the stone takes on colour. During the day, at weekends and in summer, the bridge fills with visitors. On the last weekend of August, at the Besalú Medieval festival, the horseback jousts take place at the foot of the bridge.

With children, with a dog and accessibility

The deck is stone and can be crossed with a pushchair without problems; in a wheelchair, the cobbles and the ramp call for help. With a dog, on a lead: it is a narrow passage and there are many people. The descent to the bank to see the bridge from below is over uneven ground.

Complete the visit

On the other side you have the Jewish quarter and the mikveh, two minutes away, and further up plaça de la Llibertat and Sant Pere. To eat with the bridge in front of you, the Restaurant Pont Vell; to sleep, Els Jardins de la Martana, at the start of the bridge, with gardens down to the river.