Day 064i: A most beautiful Bridge … (07/17/2019)
It was easy enough to follow The Way through Cahors (this is often a quite difficult task in many of the Camino’s not-so-small cities), and yet lost it completely on the far side of town. I wandered about and under and all around the phenomenal Pont Valentre bridge* until I finally realized that The Way went over the bridge itself – quite thankfully, I might add, as this quite incredible overpass was a true joy to traverse … 😀
“Understanding is the bridge between two minds, while active caring is the bridge between two Souls. Regarding the former, the longer you remain in place in your convictions, the darker the chasm of ignorance becomes that keeps you from awakening. Regarding the latter, more importantly, the longer you remain distant from others, the more turbulent the river of isolation becomes that keep you from knowing Love.” ~ inspired by Matshona Dhliwayo & Ken Poirot
*Understandably the most famous symbol of Cahors, the heavily fortified Pont Valentre was built over a 70 year period from 1308 to 1378 … :O
P.S. Interestingly enough, local folklore has it that – due to lagging progress – the bridge foreman made a pact with the Devil in order to complete the bridge on time, with the Devil promising to carry out all the foreman’s orders and the foreman offering his Soul in return. Well, the bridge was indeed finished promptly and the foreman was understandably regretting the Devil’s struck deal, so as a final order the foreman told the Devil to collect water for the workers using a sieve – thereby saving his Soul. It was said that in revenge for being bamboozled so cleverly, the Devil sent a demon every night to loosen the final stone placed in the bridge’s central tower, thereby ensuring that the bridge would need constant repair … May years later, during the restoration of the bridge in 1879, the architect Paul Gout inserted a stone bearing the sculpted image of an imp (pictured here) into the central tower, so that now whenever the Devil looks to see that his promised vandalism has been done, he is (once again) tricked into thinking that a demon is already on hand engaged in the same … 😀
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