Cameron Hewitt
@cameronhewitt.bsky.social
Traveler. Writer. Photographer. Temporary European.
Thanks, Cami! I just posted it here on Bluesky, too.
February 7, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Thanks, Cami! I just posted it here on Bluesky, too.
The act of travel can be a bridge over the troubled waters of our time.
And we travelers can strive to be bridges, ourselves, as we connect our increasingly isolated and hostile homeland to the world beyond our borders. #
And we travelers can strive to be bridges, ourselves, as we connect our increasingly isolated and hostile homeland to the world beyond our borders. #
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
The act of travel can be a bridge over the troubled waters of our time.
And we travelers can strive to be bridges, ourselves, as we connect our increasingly isolated and hostile homeland to the world beyond our borders. #
And we travelers can strive to be bridges, ourselves, as we connect our increasingly isolated and hostile homeland to the world beyond our borders. #
We are entering an era where walls, suspicion, and division are in vogue.
Inspired by my travels, I will remind myself, whenever I can, of how bridges represent the transcendent power of connection and cooperation.
Inspired by my travels, I will remind myself, whenever I can, of how bridges represent the transcendent power of connection and cooperation.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
We are entering an era where walls, suspicion, and division are in vogue.
Inspired by my travels, I will remind myself, whenever I can, of how bridges represent the transcendent power of connection and cooperation.
Inspired by my travels, I will remind myself, whenever I can, of how bridges represent the transcendent power of connection and cooperation.
And what’s the other feature you’ll find on each euro banknote?
A doorway.
That’s right: a passage that leads through a wall.
A doorway.
That’s right: a passage that leads through a wall.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
And what’s the other feature you’ll find on each euro banknote?
A doorway.
That’s right: a passage that leads through a wall.
A doorway.
That’s right: a passage that leads through a wall.
In fact, Europe embraces the bridge — certainly not the wall — as its most prized symbol.
Take a close look at some euro banknotes: Each one features a bridge, from round Roman arches to pointy Gothic ones to sleek modern cables.
Bridges fill the wallets and purses of 350 million Europeans.
Take a close look at some euro banknotes: Each one features a bridge, from round Roman arches to pointy Gothic ones to sleek modern cables.
Bridges fill the wallets and purses of 350 million Europeans.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
In fact, Europe embraces the bridge — certainly not the wall — as its most prized symbol.
Take a close look at some euro banknotes: Each one features a bridge, from round Roman arches to pointy Gothic ones to sleek modern cables.
Bridges fill the wallets and purses of 350 million Europeans.
Take a close look at some euro banknotes: Each one features a bridge, from round Roman arches to pointy Gothic ones to sleek modern cables.
Bridges fill the wallets and purses of 350 million Europeans.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mostar's Old Bridge (c. 1557) symbolized a multiethnic community of Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Its destruction in the Yugoslav Wars made it a symbol of loss. And its reconstruction transformed it again, into a symbol of reconciliation. Such is the versatility of the bridge.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mostar's Old Bridge (c. 1557) symbolized a multiethnic community of Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Its destruction in the Yugoslav Wars made it a symbol of loss. And its reconstruction transformed it again, into a symbol of reconciliation. Such is the versatility of the bridge.
While societies outgrow their walls constantly — and while the dismantling of a wall is celebrated as a marker of progress — I can’t think of a single place that has ever outgrown a bridge. What bridge has ever been taken down, and not replaced, because it’s a bother?
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
While societies outgrow their walls constantly — and while the dismantling of a wall is celebrated as a marker of progress — I can’t think of a single place that has ever outgrown a bridge. What bridge has ever been taken down, and not replaced, because it’s a bother?
Historically, as kingdoms and empires expanded, they built bridges. Anywhere you go in Europe, you stumble upon old Roman, Celtic, or Ottoman bridges that still stand strong and proud, even as other vestiges of those civilizations have long since been pulverized by the passage of time.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Historically, as kingdoms and empires expanded, they built bridges. Anywhere you go in Europe, you stumble upon old Roman, Celtic, or Ottoman bridges that still stand strong and proud, even as other vestiges of those civilizations have long since been pulverized by the passage of time.
A bridge can allow two thriving cities to become a single megalopolis, such as when Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube, became Budapest; or the Øresund Bridge that spans the strait between Denmark and Sweden, integrating Copenhagen and Malmö into a transnational economic powerhouse.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A bridge can allow two thriving cities to become a single megalopolis, such as when Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube, became Budapest; or the Øresund Bridge that spans the strait between Denmark and Sweden, integrating Copenhagen and Malmö into a transnational economic powerhouse.
A bridge can revitalize a neighborhood, such as when London’s Millennium Bridge reintegrated its South Bank more fully into the city.
It can connect continents, such as the mighty suspension bridges arcing over the Bosporus in Istanbul, linking Europe to Asia.
It can connect continents, such as the mighty suspension bridges arcing over the Bosporus in Istanbul, linking Europe to Asia.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A bridge can revitalize a neighborhood, such as when London’s Millennium Bridge reintegrated its South Bank more fully into the city.
It can connect continents, such as the mighty suspension bridges arcing over the Bosporus in Istanbul, linking Europe to Asia.
It can connect continents, such as the mighty suspension bridges arcing over the Bosporus in Istanbul, linking Europe to Asia.
Budapest’s Chain Bridge; London’s Tower Bridge; Prague’s Charles Bridge; Porto’s Dom Luís I Bridge; Luzern’s Chapel Bridge — all of these are as beautiful as they are practical, and each one is synonymous with a world-class city.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Budapest’s Chain Bridge; London’s Tower Bridge; Prague’s Charles Bridge; Porto’s Dom Luís I Bridge; Luzern’s Chapel Bridge — all of these are as beautiful as they are practical, and each one is synonymous with a world-class city.
A bridge connects people and places. It allows the flow of both goods and ideas. It strengthens a city, a country, an empire.
Think of the many iconic bridges that symbolize a great city: Florence's Ponte Vecchio, Venice's Rialto Bridge, Rome's Ponte Sant’Angelo.
Think of the many iconic bridges that symbolize a great city: Florence's Ponte Vecchio, Venice's Rialto Bridge, Rome's Ponte Sant’Angelo.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A bridge connects people and places. It allows the flow of both goods and ideas. It strengthens a city, a country, an empire.
Think of the many iconic bridges that symbolize a great city: Florence's Ponte Vecchio, Venice's Rialto Bridge, Rome's Ponte Sant’Angelo.
Think of the many iconic bridges that symbolize a great city: Florence's Ponte Vecchio, Venice's Rialto Bridge, Rome's Ponte Sant’Angelo.
So, then: What about bridges?
Well, bridges are simply everything. Aren't they?
Well, bridges are simply everything. Aren't they?
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
So, then: What about bridges?
Well, bridges are simply everything. Aren't they?
Well, bridges are simply everything. Aren't they?
And then there are the walls you don't see anymore: prosperous, beautiful cities — Vienna, Copenhagen, Kraków — that long ago tore down their walls to create a park or boulevard. As the world around them evolved and advanced, removing these walls became the only way to grow and flourish.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
And then there are the walls you don't see anymore: prosperous, beautiful cities — Vienna, Copenhagen, Kraków — that long ago tore down their walls to create a park or boulevard. As the world around them evolved and advanced, removing these walls became the only way to grow and flourish.
Europe also has “beautiful” walls — Dubrovnik, Carcassonne, Rhodes — that evoke an age when conflict never cased. Today, travelers freely walk upon these artifacts of an earlier stage in societal evolution. Each picturesque loop feels like a victory lap, marking how far we've progressed.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Europe also has “beautiful” walls — Dubrovnik, Carcassonne, Rhodes — that evoke an age when conflict never cased. Today, travelers freely walk upon these artifacts of an earlier stage in societal evolution. Each picturesque loop feels like a victory lap, marking how far we've progressed.
Walls create the illusion of providing a "solution." But they solve nothing. They simply keep the problem at arm’s length, festering, bloating from inattention... until it explodes into a much bigger problem.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Walls create the illusion of providing a "solution." But they solve nothing. They simply keep the problem at arm’s length, festering, bloating from inattention... until it explodes into a much bigger problem.
Walls are ugly: Belfast; Berlin; Israel and Palestine. In these conflicts, the wall is a blunt instrument, an act of desperation, a diplomatic failure that embodies misunderstanding, anger, hate. It's a barrier to empathy, making it easier to demonize those who live on “the other side.”
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Walls are ugly: Belfast; Berlin; Israel and Palestine. In these conflicts, the wall is a blunt instrument, an act of desperation, a diplomatic failure that embodies misunderstanding, anger, hate. It's a barrier to empathy, making it easier to demonize those who live on “the other side.”
The great challenges of our time — from pandemics to climate change — are, as Rick Steves has said, blind to borders. So, too, must be the solutions, through collaboration and compromise. And that requires building bridges, not walls. As a traveler, I've seen many illustrative examples of both:
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
The great challenges of our time — from pandemics to climate change — are, as Rick Steves has said, blind to borders. So, too, must be the solutions, through collaboration and compromise. And that requires building bridges, not walls. As a traveler, I've seen many illustrative examples of both:
On the other side, we view the world as a vast, intricate, interwoven network of distinct societies, each one a proud product of its own complicated story. This informs a diversity of solutions — creative approaches to tackling the same vexing problems.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
On the other side, we view the world as a vast, intricate, interwoven network of distinct societies, each one a proud product of its own complicated story. This informs a diversity of solutions — creative approaches to tackling the same vexing problems.
One faction embraces walls: borders between nations; trade barriers; cages for locking up enemies. Their world is a zero-sum game — a mountain with America at the top, encircled by a thick wall, and everyone else desperate to get here. Anyone outside is an enemy who must be vanquished.
February 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
One faction embraces walls: borders between nations; trade barriers; cages for locking up enemies. Their world is a zero-sum game — a mountain with America at the top, encircled by a thick wall, and everyone else desperate to get here. Anyone outside is an enemy who must be vanquished.