Spain - The Silver Route

The Via has two sub-truncks, the first formed by the Roman Way which, since Merida, arrived at Astorga and the other forms by the route which, from the same point of departure, led to the mouth of the Guadiana at Ayamonte. The roadway retains its physical structure in many parts of its route north of Merida. Its width is about six meters and the composition of the materials that form it and the morphology of its structure vary in relation to the geology and orography of the counterparts it crosses. Thus in some areas it appears as a dirt road and in others as a box with several layers of soil that give consistency to the stone rolling surface, supported on stony foundations. 11 at a regular distance from the mileage indicative of the distance traveled from the point of origin (some preserved in their places of origin, others are piled up in the margins of the track, at the end of the quarry; There is a large part of this today that is part of the structure or decoration of public buildings, which are located in regional museums or have been used to build walls of separation of farms). There are also archeological sites at regular distances which show what were the old post houses or inns (mansiones and mutations), some of which were transformed at the Roman time in the city like the colony of Merida or the municipality of Caparra (Oliva of PlasencialGuijo de Granadilla). Other goods directly related to the Way are works of civil engineering, especially bridges, some of which are still used, such as that of the Albarregas (Merida), Valdesalor (Caceres) or Aldeanueva del Camino, others in the state of partial ruin can still be admired this is the case of the great bridge Alconetar (Garrovillas) or that of Aljucen (Merida).