06/06/2026
Girona has a bridge built by Gustave Eiffel, and almost nobody outside Spain knows it exists.
The Pont de les Peixateries Velles (Old Fish Market Bridge) spans the Onyar River right in the heart of Girona, a medieval city about an hour north of Barcelona. Eiffel's company completed it in 1877, more than a decade before they broke ground on the Paris tower. Same red iron lattice. Same riveted framework. A warm-up act that ended up becoming a landmark in its own right.
The name comes from the fish markets that used to line the riverbank nearby. For centuries, this stretch of the Onyar was a working, noisy, commercial part of the city. The bridge was built to connect the old town with the Mercadal neighborhood on the other side, not as a monument, just as a practical crossing.
There is a small detail most visitors never hear. The project ran over budget and over schedule. Floods in France had delayed the delivery of the iron materials. When the city complained, the Eiffel company offered a gesture: they installed the bridge's street lamps at no charge.
The bridge was restored in 2008 and is open around the clock, free to walk across.
