Via de la Plata

Tabula Peutingeriana (excerpt from Hispania , the westernmost part)

The Via de la Plata is a historic road linking Seville and Astorga on the Iberian Peninsula .

It stretches for hundreds of kilometers in a north-south direction through the former Roman province of Lusitania in Hispania . Its approximate course including the most important traffic nodes is mapped in the Tabula Peutingeriana .

course

Section of the Roman road near Baños de Montemayor

The Via de la Plata connected Hispalis (now Seville ) via Italica (now Santiponce ), Emerita Augusta (now Mérida ), Castra Caecilia (now Cáceres ), Helmantica (now Salamanca ) and Ocelum (now probably Zamora ) with Asturica Augusta (now Astorga) ).

history

Literally translated the name would mean "Silberstraße". However, the name does not come from Roman times, but its origin lies in the folk etymological change in the more recent Moorish name Bal'latta for "broad paved path". In the 1st century AD the road from Seville to Astorga was completely paved. The north-south connection north of the Strait of Gibraltar , however, did not have a uniform name in Roman times.

The Romans expanded existing roads. The Phoenicians are said to have used the trade route for the transport of gold and tin. It is believed that these trails were previously used by shepherds and hunters (cañadas) to spend the summer in the cooler Castilian plateau and the winter in Extremadura. Today the Via de la Plata is a pilgrimage route ; He belongs to the network of roads to Santiago (Caminos de Santiago) , whose common goal, the city of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia is.

bridges

roman bridge at Salamanca

Antiquity Puente Romano near Mérida over the Río Guadiana Puente de Alconétar , ruined segment arch bridge over the Tajo Bridge at the Roman city of Cáparra over the Río Ambroz Puente Romano near Salamanca across the Río Tormes

middle Ages Puente de Piedra in Zamora across the Duero Puente Vilambre near Astorga

places

Roman roads in the Iberian Peninsula

Andalusia Seville Santiponce Guillena El Ronqillo Santa Olalla del Cala El Real de la Jara

Extremadura Monesterio Fuente de Cantos Los Santos de Maimona Villafranca de los Barros Almendralejo Merida Aljucén Cáceres Plasencia Baños de Montemayor

Castile and Leon Béjar Guijuelo Salamanca Zamora Benavente Valencia de Don Juan Astorga

literature

• Raimund Joos, Michael Kasper: Spain: Jakobsweg - Via de la Plata and Mozarabischer Jakobsweg , Conrad Stein Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-86686-251-7
• Bernd Munzenmayer, Alison Raju: Camino Mozarabe. Via de la Plata. The Way of St. James of the South . Sevilla, Astorga, Santiago de Compostela, Nink-Verlag (1999), 116 pp., ISBN 3-934159-02-8
• Cordula Raabe: Via de la Plata. Way of St. James from Seville to Santiago de Compostela , Bergverlag Rother , 2006, ISBN 3-7633-4333-4
• Siegfried Wiesenhofer: My other Way of St. James. By bike on Via de la Plata , Books on Demand GmbH, 2007, ISBN 3-8370-0338-8
• José Manuel Roldán, Luis Carandell, Koldo Chamorro [Photo]: La Viá de la Plata . Barcelona, ​​Lunwerg Editores, SA, 1995. ISBN 84-7782-329-4

Web links

Commons : Via de la Plata  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Via de la Plata  - travel guide

• Official website for tourism in Spain: information about the Via de la Plata (tourist route) (German)
• The Via de la Plata in the Outdoorwiki with route and accommodation information, literature and links to pilgrim forums etc.
• Via de la Plata on www.jakobus-info.de
• Homepage on Via de la Plata with information for pilgrims
• On the Via de la Plata through Extremadura (German, English, Spanish)
• Stages of the Camino de Santiago

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Via de la Plata - overview map showing the course of the pilgrimage route
2. ^ Andreas Bechtold and Barbara Dickenberger: Spain. Via de la Plata I: The Roman road to Salamanca. A production of the Saarländischer Rundfunk . TR Verlagsunion , March 2005, ISBN 3-8058-3684-8
3. ^ Andreas Bechtold and Barbara Dickenberger: Spain. Via de la Plata II: In the heart of Spain. A production of the Saarländischer Rundfunk . TR Verlagsunion, March 2005, ISBN 3-8058-3684-8