Just across Samana Bay from the Malecon, is a bridge. The main section is at least 200m long. First it spans a small gap to one Cayo (island), then a much larger span to the next Cayo. Then it stops. The only way back to the shore is to turn round and go back again. For obvious reasons it’s known as the Bridge to Nowhere.

The bridge to nowhere is a lasting folly to the last Dominican dictator – Joaquín Balaguer. And also, more obliquely, to Napoleon Bonaparte. Napolean saw the potential of Samana as his base in the Caribbean – a deep, well-protected port surrounded by high hills – the perfect base for his New-world colonial ambitions. He went as far as lying out a plan for the town. Balaguer – a local man of French descent and a big fan of Napolean – resurrected the plan with a grandiose (and completely mad) plan for Samana to be the biggest resort town in the Carribean (regardless that at the time it was virtulaly cut-off from the rest of the country by the appaling road system).
When Balaguer was deposed in May 1978, the plan was shelved – in favour of Puerta Dorado some 200km along the north-coast. But not until after the bridge was completed – along with the shell of the restuarant that was to be the main reason for the well heeled visitor and local to venture along the bridge. Today the bridge remains (somewhat delapidated) and the graffiti-covered remains of the restuarant and the broken path leading to it, are all that remain of Balaguer’s grand dream.

~ Madventure