Smile River Bridge
Smile River Bridge
It is a single-arched stone bridge that connects the Smile River and is located just outside the now-abandoned village of Smile close to Vrysses village. The bridge was located on the road leading to Amari and was probably built before the Turkish occupation. It is said that there used to be another one higher up the river, but it was swept away by the river which used to be very fast.
However, it was not possible to measure accurately its dimensions because of the vegetation and the river. The piers of the bridge are founded on rock and the construction of the arch has been done with semi-cut hard limestone. The arch is thin and elegant and the whole construction is reminiscent of the bridges of Epirus. The bridge is located today in rural areas, away from the main roads, and only serves to access some fields and thus has not received any maintenance. The main problems are the disintegration to a large extent, of the mortars and the dense vegetation that grows in the joints.