Two rivers unite to create a third, and an entire city has been built around this meeting. In Pittsburgh, the Allegheny and the Monongahela join at a green point to give birth to the Ohio, and it is precisely there, in the heart of downtown, that riverboats tie up. A starting or ending point for Ohio River cruises, the former steel capital surprises those who still imagine it grey: the blast furnaces have given way to museums, riverside trails and one of the most beautiful city skylines in the eastern United States.

The garden at the confluence

A few steps from the landing, Point State Park occupies the exact triangle where the Ohio begins. Its large fountain marks the confluence, and the lawns fill with strollers as soon as the fine weather arrives. It was here that a succession of forts sparked colonial rivalries between the French and the British in the 18th century; the Fort Pitt Block House, a modest brick building, remains their witness. All around, the Golden Triangle lines up its office towers, some of them Gothic Revival or Art Deco, worth looking up for.

Mount Washington by funicular

On the other bank of the Monongahela, a century-old incline hauls its wooden cars up to the top of Mount Washington. The Duquesne Incline climbs slowly, and as the car rises, the cityscape unfolds: the three rivers, the point and the yellow bridges spanning the water in every direction. Many consider this panorama one of the finest in the United States, and the late-day light suits it particularly well. The lookout at the top runs along a quiet residential street.

Warhol, the native son

Across the Allegheny, the North Shore brings together the stadiums of the Steelers and the Pirates, as well as an institution the whole world associates with Pittsburgh: the Andy Warhol Museum, devoted to the artist born here in 1928. Seven floors trace his career, from his early illustrations to the silkscreens that became icons. It is the largest collection in the world devoted to a single artist of this stature, and a two-hour visit is enough to take its measure.

Ideas for rounding out the day

• Follow the rivers on foot or by bike along the trails linking the point to the stadiums.
• Walk across one of the yellow bridges over the Allegheny, including the one dedicated to Roberto Clemente, closed to traffic on game days.
• Continue to the Strip District, a former wholesale district turned pantry and gathering place for food lovers, for its Italian, Polish and Asian grocery stores.
• Depending on the time available, choose between the Carnegie museums and the greenhouses of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

A city told through its bridges

Pittsburgh maintains a bond with its waterways that few American cities can claim. Bridges number in the hundreds across the county, and from the deck of a riverboat, you quickly understand why: every neighbourhood seems to face a riverbank, every view framed by a span of steel painted yellow. Steel, in fact, has not disappeared; it has been transformed into memory, museums and local pride.

Casting off

When the boat pulls away from the dock and rounds the point, the skyscrapers slowly slip behind the fountain, and the Ohio Valley opens straight ahead. Wooded hills close in around the river, the first images of a journey that will continue down to Cincinnati or Louisville. Pittsburgh will have served as a brilliant overture: a compact, walkable and proud metropolis, ideally discovered from the water that gave it life.