The Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge — universally known as the Rio-Antirrio Bridge after the two towns it connects — is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world and a genuine engineering landmark. Opened in 2004 for the Athens Olympics, it spans 2.9 kilometres across the narrows where the Gulf of Corinth meets the open sea, connecting the Peloponnese to mainland Greece in a region where the ferry crossing was the only option for centuries. The four pylon towers rise 164 metres above the water.
The bridge is visible from Patras on a clear day and reaches about 9 km north of the city centre. Driving across it — or even stopping at the Rio end to look at it properly — is worth the short trip from town. The engineering challenge was enormous: the strait sits in an active seismic zone, the water is deep, and the seabed geology required foundations that could cope with significant movement. The solution involved pylons that don't rigidly connect to the seabed but are designed to slide on the sediment in the event of an earthquake, absorbing the energy rather than resisting it. The bridge has become a symbol of the region; you'll see it on postcards and in the background of every landscape photograph of the gulf.