Brige over a creek in the Jostedall Valley (Norway)

Mange bekker små gjør en stor å.

Many small streams make a large river

Norwegian saying

Bridge over the Giffre River in Sixt Fer a Cheval, Haute Savoie (France)

"The valleys of the Alps are remarkable in that they are, in a way, complete. Each one presents, often within the most limited space, a kind of universe apart. They all have their own aspect, their own shape, their own light , their own particular sounds."

Victor Hugo

Devil Bridge over the Navette Creek in La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, Hautes Alpes (France)

 Human nature seems to me like the Alps. The depths are profound, black as night, and terrifying, but the heights are equally real, uplifted in the sunshine.

Emily Greene Balch

Devil's Bridge over the Navette crook in La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, Hautes Alpes (France)

"Culture is the source of all creativity. That of geography and the history of mountaineering makes us look at the Alpine arc as an evidence, a beauty, a line to follow. A line, not the line! Like a line in a face".

Patrick Bérhault

Pont de Fruitiére over the Gave de Lutour near Cauterets, Hautes Pyrenées (France)

"J'ai senti mes poumons gonfler sous l'effet du paysage : air, montagnes, arbres, gens. J'ai pensé : C'est ce que c'est d'être heureux."

Sylvia Plath

Pont de la Citadelle over the Isére River in Grenoble, Isére (France)

 "At the end of every street is a mountain"

Stendhal about Grenoble.

Bridge over the Bregenzer Ache River near Bersbuch, Voralberg (Austria)

 There's magic in the water that draws all men away form the land, that leads them over hills, down creeks and streams and rivers to the sea.

Herman Melville

Staadtbrücke (Town Bridge) over the Drava River in Villach, Carinthia (Austria)

Drifting – on the water flows,
Pacing – walking along the banks,
Racing – the mind wanders,
On what does ponder?
What time is there to reflect?
There is nothing left to contemplate,
save the very condition of the soul.

Poem An evening on the Drava River

by Zachary Isrow

Great Viamala Bridge over the Posterior Rhine River near Thusis, Graubunden (Switzerland)

"Switzerland is a small, steep country, much more up and down than sideways, and is all stuck over with large brown hotels built on the cuckoo clock style of architecture." 

Ernest Hemingway

Faller-Klamm Bridge over the Sylvenstein Lake near Lenggries, Bavaria (Germany)

Exposed on the mountains of the heart. See, how small there,see: the last hamlet of words, and higher,
and yet so small, a last
homestead of feeling. Do you recognize it?

Translated from a poem of

Rainer María Rilke about german Alps

Xiazigou Bridge in the Houcheng county, Xinjiang (China)

 "Robes of snow, crests of snow, 

and beaks of azure jade,

they fish in shadowy streams.
Then startling up into
Flight, they leave emerald mountains for lit distances.
Pear blossoms, a tree-full, tumble in the evening wind."

Old chinese poem

translated by David Hinton

Kriegsbrucke over the Drau River in Villach, Carinthia (Austria)

Where through the mats wonderful green,
the rapid floods of the Drau river,
from the monkshood, where snow-covered
Nordgau's Alpine chain stretches,
to the Karawanks rock face
my friendly homeland stretches out.

Excerpt from Carinthian homeland song

by Johann Taurer von Gallenstein

Bridge over the Maurian Creek in La Grave, Isére (France)

"A century ago, all the major peaks of the Alps had been climbed. All except for one, the Meije. This citadel of ice and granite put up even greater resistance to the efforts of assailants than the Matterhorn…"

Henri Issellin

Bridges over the Sengge Zangbo River (Indus River) in Shiquanhe, Tibet (China)

Scientist finds new origin of Indus River. More than 100 years after Swedish explorer Sven Hedin announced the discovery of the origin of the Indus river, a Chinese scientist has challenged the claim with the help of high-resolution, remote-sensing satellite images and a field investigation to come up with a new finding. "The headstream, called Banggokong by local Tibetans, is about 30 kilometers away from the place that Sven Hedin believed was the source of the river," said Liu. The upper course of Indus River within Tibet is called Sengge Zangbo, which means a lion-mouthed river.

China Daily, 21 october 2010.

Bridge over the Neste d'Oo river near Oô, Haute Garonne (France)

Long ago, at nightfall, a stranger arrived, a beggar. The shepherds, who are as rich as they are selfish, throw him out of their houses, except for one poor man who lives in a simple cabin on the outskirts of the other houses. This man is so poor that he has only one animal, but he agrees to sacrifice it to share it with his host. After dinner, the begger tells him: "Gather the bones and skins of the animal and leave them in front of your door, then we're going to bed." The man carries it out and, the next day when he wakes up, the beggar has disappeared but he sees a vast herd in his enclosure and, in the town square, a huge lake.

Legend of the Pyrenees

Ponte Pelvo over the Varaita River near Bellino, Piedmont (Italy)

Vois ces vierges, là-haut, plus blanches que les cygnes, 
Assises dans l'azur sur les gradins des cieux ! 
Viens ! nous invitons l'âme à des fêtes insignes, 
Nous, les Alpes, veillant entre l'homme et les dieux.

Des amants indiscrets l'abîme nous protège ;
Notre front n'a rougi qu'aux baisers du soleil, 
Et les rosiers du soir sur notre sein de neige 
Répandent seuls l'ardeur de l'ambre et du vermeil.

Excerpt from Symphonie Alpestre

Victor de Laprade, 1812-1883

Devil Bridge over the Navette creek in La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, Hautes Alpes (France)

"Valgaudemar is the french Himalaya"

Gaston Rébuffat

Bridge over the Isar River in Bad Tolz, Bavaria (Germany)

“The summit seemed inaccessible;
Now we walk it so easily.
Far away the first paths grow dim,
New heavens have been reached.
Primeval mountains and open countries
Float far, playful in one.
Cities we crossed at night
Are a simple, bright picture.
Bright clouds streaks across;
Their shadow run encircles us.
Kill big blue moths
Up like books in front of us.”

Poem by Hans Carossa,

poet from Bad Tolz

Bridge over the Siglitz creek near Bad Gastein, Salzburg (Austria)

Roaring water, roaring fall,
monotonous yet so melodic sound,
tired body, still listening the ear,
rushing the tones so familiar to him,
already throwing glittering pearls into dreams -
sweet memory, atomizing foam.

Empress Sisi 

about Bad Gastein waterfall

Ponte Teatro (Theater Bridge) crossing the Passirio River in Merano, Trentino - Alto Adige (Italy)

 O light the heart
That lingers in Merano
Merano! The spa no
Connoisseur of spas would miss
So healthy

Highly recommended
Is this sweet metropolis
Mental and physical bliss!

Lyrics of Merano

from Benny Andersson