The Bridge of Arta

The Bridge of Arta is a stone bridge that crosses the Arachthos river within the west of the metropolis of Arta in Greece. It has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, beginning with Roman or perhaps older foundations; the current bridge is probably a seventeenth-century Ottoman construction. The people ballad "The Bridge of Arta" tells a story of human sacrifice at some point of its building. From the ballad, some of Greek proverbs and commonplace expressions arose, related to interminable delays, as within the text of the ballad: "All day they have been constructing it, and inside the night time it would crumble.

According to the Epirote chronicler Panayiotis Aravantinos, the bridge was first built underneath the Roman Empire. Some traditions say it changed into rebuilt while Arta became capital of the Despotate of Epirus, possibly underneath Michael II Doukas r. 1230–1268. The current bridge is Ottoman, in all likelihood from 1602–06 or perhaps 1613. From the annexation of Arta in 1881 to the outbreak of the First Balkan War in 1912, the best point of the bridge become the border between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Greece. You can visit this place with your loved ones.