Vía de la Plata

In the Andalusian period, this route was called al-Balat (the paved road), a word very frequent in other areas of Spain and the origin of place names such as Albalat and Albalate.

In the first it appears simply as the Plata[3] and in the second in this form:Est praeterea eiusdem Lusitanie via nobilissima: Argentea vulgo dicitur.

The path is from Emerita Augusta to Castra Caecilia Salmanticam usque, ubi primum in extima pontis parte incipit evanescere, neque ulterius ullum viae illius vestigium cernit.

In the following centuries it continued to be frequented, without its specific name being known, becoming, until the arrival of Rome, one of the main routes of communication of the Hispanic towns next to the so-called Via Heraclea, which ran through the whole of the Levant, from Cadiz to cross the Pyrenees.

Some stretches, however, pass through urban areas like Seville, where the Vía de la Plata runs along the Guadalquivir.