Via de la Plata
Via de la Plata
Via de la Plata: The Camino from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela
This 11-day active walking itinerary will be a remarkably rich experience culturally as we spend the night in or visit five UNESCO recognized World Heritage sites as well as many less well-known treasures of western Spain in this epic, 1000KM south-north journey from the Andalusian city of Sevilla to the verdant, hilly Galician city of stone, Santiago de Compostela, the tomb of the Apostle St James the Greater and endpoint of the set of great medieval pilgrimage routes called the Caminos de Santiago. We will walk sections of an ancient pathway, the Via de la Plata, whose name comes from the Arabic "balat" meaning paved road but came into Spanish and then English as the Silver (Plata) Way.
Since pre-Roman times, this pathway has witnessed the passage of Roman engineers, workers and legionnaires, humble shepherds and their flocks, weary pilgrims on their way to Santiago, Muslim and Christian soldiers vying for control of territory, powerful knights of the Order of Santiago on horseback controlling their lands, skilled merchants and artisans plying their wares and crafts, kings and queens in battle, seeking peace or attending their kingdoms, and all the other people simply trying to make or keep their place in the world.
Over the course of these 11-days we will get a glimpse into the complexity of the Iberian Peninsula's history as we move through these beautiful spaces by the rhythm of our feet stimulating our senses on all levels. As on all of our tours, we pay special attention to introducing you to the culinary highlights and wines of each region, so distinct as we move from south to north in this enigmatic and ever-changing set of landscapes from rolling prairies, to mountain passes, open cereal plains to dense forests.
We begin in ebullient Sevilla enjoying Muslim and Christian monuments to a rich, complex past and continue northward through Merida, one of Spain's most-well preserved Roman cities. We move northward through less well-known jewels in Extremadura such as Caceres, Plasencia and Zamora. The trail continues through Castilla y Leon in Salamanca, Spain's oldest university town and famed for the grandeur of its architecture and Zamora another well-situated, monumental town along the great Duero river known for its high-quality red wines. Another transition occurs as we move into verdant Galicia, once hard to access via mountain passes and endless rolling green hills, but valued always for its delicious, yet simple cuisine highlighting the health and quality of the land.
As always we will enjoy lovely walks in the peaceful countryside to allow you to enjoy the special rhythm that walking provides and enables you to take in these experiences so fully. We hope that you will join us for this special itinerary that Jose and I have prepared with the passion and love for Spain and the Camino that characterizes all of our walks.
VIA DE LA PLATA: FROM SEVILLA TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
Tour Dates: This tour will not be offered in 2023. Please send inquiries for 2024 and requests for private group trips to info@onfootinspain.com
Tour Duration: 11 days & 11 nights
Walking Level: Easy-Medium. This is an active, walking-focused cultural tour exploring a varied set of terrain along a nearly 1000km section of the Via de la Plata. We have chosen highlight and representative sections. Walks range from 6.5mi/10.5km to 9.6mi/15.5km on a daily basis. Some days include optional walks that have a total maximum distance of 13mi/21km. The daily total distance is usually done in sections and when possible we offer alternatives to shorten the walks or you can elect to ride in the support vehicle if you do not want to complete the scheduled walk. Terrain varies from hilly, mountainous track, sections of uneven, rocky pathway, easy country lanes, forest paths, rolling hills, cobbled city streets, and a few asphalt, secondary roads. Walking poles and sturdy walking shoes are recommended for this tour. Remember, the more you train, the more you will enjoy the tour! The Via de la Plata is not flat and you will appreciate training that you do on hilly terrain and walking long-distances.
Walking Days: 11
Total Distance: 81.3mi/131km With Optionals: 96mi/154.5km
(If you did all of the walking - scheduled sections plus sections marked optional - then your total distance would be the 'With Optionals' figure).
Tour Start/End Point: The tour will start in Sevilla at 2pm and end in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The airport codes are – Sevilla (SVQ) and Santiago de Compostela (SCQ). Both airports are located conveniently to the city center. Daily direct flights are available from Madrid (MAD) and many European hubs to these cities.
Group size: The tour is limited to a maximum of 15 participants.
Tour Price: TBA
Single Supplement: TBA
Weather: In May expect sunny warm weather in the south and the possibility of rain showers as we move northward. Temperatures can range from 5-28ºC / 40-82ºF. In April or October expect warm to cool temperatures in southern Spain and cooling conditions as we move northwards as well as the possibility of rain showers. Temperatures will range from 4-20ºC / 39-70ºF
What is and isn`t included:
Trip price includes: accommodations (double occupancy), all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) each day, except 4 dinners, all entry fees (except where noted in the itinerary), pre-departure information, experienced guides (Nancy & Jose), support vehicle, all transportation during the trip.
Tour does not include: Airfare to Spain is not included nor is required health/travel insurance or transportation to and from the starting (Sevilla) and ending (Santiago de Compostela) points. Personal amenities such as drinks and snacks at end of walks or in free time are not included.
Single Supplement: TBA
Optional Tour: We may include an optional tour not described in the itinerary at an extra cost.
Daily Itinerary
Day 1 - Sevilla
Walking Distance: 1.8 miles / 3 km
After meeting at our hotel in the heart of Sevilla’s historical district, a local guide will take us on a walking tour to introduce us to the many facets of the city’s rich and vibrant history.
It’s Muslim, Jewish and Christian past will come to life as we hear about the Royal Alcázar palace and 15th C Cathedral as well as Sevilla’s intimate relationship with the Guadalquivir River that runs through the city and was the gateway to the riches of the New World.
Flamenco music and dance were born in Andalucía in the 18th C with Sevilla being an important center of this passionate tradition.
We will enjoy a flamenco show before enjoying a variety of tapas for our dinner. Both parts of Sevilla and flamenco itself have been recognized by UNESCO as worthy of World Heritage status.
Day 2 - Zafra
Walking Distance : 7.4 miles / 12 km
We shuttle to our first walk along the Vía de la Plata on the outskirts of Sevilla enjoying this rich agricultural community of Andalucía.
We ascend through mandarine and olive groves and then through oak, pastureland where we may see grazing livestock. After our walk we will enjoy a delicious picnic emphasizing local specialties.
In the afternoon we will visit an olive press and learn about the production of olive oil, aka, Spanish ‘liquid gold’, of a local variety of olives called ‘moriscas’.
Our day ends in Extremadura, in Zafra enjoying the beautiful Parador, a 16th C palace-fortress owned by the aristocratic lineage of the Dukes of Feria. Dinner together in town enjoying local specialties.
Day 3 - Mérida
Walking Distance : 8.9mi/14km
Our Vía de la Plata section through cultivated fields, vineyards and olive groves, coincides with what was once a major livestock thoroughfare called the Cañada Real (shepherding/transhumance pathways) that witnessed the passage of millions of animals over the centuries through the villages that these pathways connect.
Controlled by the powerful religious-military Order of Santiago, we will also hear about the history of the Reconquest in this area before reaching one of the Vía de la Plata’s highlights, the Roman city of Emerita Augusta, today, Mérida.
A local guide will take us into the fabulous excavations to see the well-preserved civic structures including the theater before we end the evening in the Mérida’s Parador. These excavations have also been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Dinner on your own.
Day 4 - Plascenia
Walking Distance: 6.5mi/10.5km
We’ll start the morning walking around Mérida’s magnificent Los Milagros aqueduct admiring the nearly 2000 year old arches and the nesting storks before we continue on our way to the Roman Proserpina dam where we will start our section of the Via de la Plata.
We enter the dehesa, a common landscape in Extremadura, that is a special agricultural forest associated with raising livestock on grassy pastures and set among oaks such as holm and cork oaks.
In the afternoon we shuttle to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Cáceres to enjoy its medieval history of Muslim and Christian conflict and its Renaissance flourishing as a noble town.
Our day’s journey ends in the sumptuous Parador of Plasencia, another important medieval city, where we slumber in the once powerful St Vincente Ferrer Domincan convent. Dinner together in this beautiful town.
Day 5 - Plasencia
Walking Distance : 9.6 miles / 15.5 km With Optionals: 10.5mi/17km
Since we spend two nights in Plasencia, you can enjoy a rest day on your own in Plasencia or join us for another special walk along the Vía de la Plata.
Today’s walk takes us to a beautiful section of isolated dehesa that leads to impressive and unexpected Roman ruins in the middle of the Camino de Santiago, the old Roman city of Cáparra, an important way-station for travelers along this great north-south route.
After our picnic we will return to Plasencia to enjoy free time and a guided visit of the historical quarter learning about the town’s fascinating 15thC Jewish history.
Dinner on your own tonight to explore Plasencia or maybe to enjoy a quiet evening in the Parador.
Day 6 - Salamanca
Walking Distance: 7 miles / 11.5 km With optionals 13 miles / 21 km
Our landscape changes dramatically as we cross the border from Extremadura to Castilla y Leon and start at the mountain pass at Béjar. We descend through a dense forest to a beautiful valley cut-through by a river feeding the fertile pastures.
En route we pass Roman milestones as we make our way to the isolated village of Calzada de Béjar. After our picnic we enjoy another high pasture walk with mountains off to our right before we head towards Salamanca, another UNESCO World Heritage city.
Salamanca is home to Spain’s oldest university founded in 1218. This evening enjoy a legends tour of the historical quarter after you’ve enjoyed dinner on your own, perhaps in the dynamic Plaza Mayor with its very energetic atmosphere.
Day 7 - Zamora
Walking Distance: 9 miles / 14.5 km
Outside of Salamanca we encounter a new landscape on the Vía de la Plata, the meseta (high tableland).
Surrounded by interminable fields of cereal grains and vineyards with little signs or sounds of civilization to distract you, we’ll walk to our picnic spot, a small village in the middle of nowhere, famed for its red wines growing just south of the great Duero River.
After our picnic we’ll shuttle to Zamora, a town famed for its numerous Romanesque churches and Cathedral.
Tonight we stay in the beautiful 15th C Renaissance style palace Parador and enjoy dinner together dining on regional specialties.
Day 8 – Puebla de Sanabria
Walking Distance: 8.3miles /13.5km With optional 11.8miles /19km
As we enter León province we’ll note a significant difference in the terrain, villages and iron rich soils that characterize this area.
Our walk starts at a reservoir where the Río Tera is dammed and leads through sleepy villages with names such as Olleros de Tera which tell us of their past as ceramics producers. In the afternoon we enjoy an optional walk that makes a transition from these open scrub land to beautiful tree-lined pathways.
Our final destination is the dramatically set town of Puebla de Sanabria whose castle topping the steep rocs slopes, upon which it sits, impresses now as it did in the past.
Enjoy our rural accommodation in Puebla de Sanabria and an optional visit to the castle where you can enjoy spectacular views of the river valley and surrounding mountains.
Dinner on your own to explore this lovely, rustic town.
Day 9 - Sarreaus
Walking Distance: 8.9 miles / 14 km
Today we leave behind Castilla and Leon and start our Camino de Santiago section at the border and walk into Galicia descending through a series of mountain villages.
We may see the local long-horned cow breed called cachena. We also ascend along a corredoira, a stone pathway, among chestnuts and then open countryside, through several agricultural villages.
After our picnic, we’ll shuttle to our unique accommodation, a restored Galician hamlet with a lovely river running through its center.
Enjoy free time in this peaceful, rural setting and dinner together in the lovely dining hall.
Day 10 - Allariz
Walking Distance: 9 miles / 14.5 km With Optionals: 11.2mi/18km
Galician landscapes are mountainous, green, forested and largely rural.
On today’s walk we’ll pass through various rustic hamlets on ancient pathways.
Stone dominates in architecture and village life is largely agricultural. We’ll walk into Allariz, one of Galicia’s most beautifully maintained and restored, historical towns set on the banks of the wide Arnoia River.
Favored by kings for its strategic location, Allariz also has a long tradition of harnessing the Arnoia’s power for milling, tanning and leather craftsmanship.
Dinner together in the historical quarter enjoying Galician cuisine.
Day 11 - Santiago de Compostela
Walking distance : 7.4 miles / 12 km With Optionals: 9.6 miles / 15.5km
Today the journey comes to an end in Santiago. We’ll walk through lush woodlands and farms to Cea, a town known all over Galicia for its famed crusty bread.
We will see a number of granaries or corn cribs called hórreos en route and in Cea where crops were stored for milling. After our picnic we have one more optional walk before we head to the beautiful Baroque gardens at the Pazo de Oca .
We’ll visit the gardens and then shuttle to the city gates of Santiago de Compostela.
We’ll reach the main plaza on foot and then head to our stunning accommodation on the Cathedral Square, the exquisite Reyes Católicos Parador.
We’ll say goodbye over dinner in the Parador’s dining hall.
