The Southeast Way - Vía de la Plata  

Coming from Andalusia and Extremadura, it enters Galicia through the Portelas do Padornelo and A Canda, passes through the northern Monterrei and A Limia valleys until Ourense. At this city, the route Vía de la Plata and some of the Portuguese interior roads meet, reaching Galicia by the valleys of A Limia and O Támega. This road is known, in the final stretch, as Ourensano Way.

The route of Via de la Plata is intimately connected with the traditional way, documented since roman time, from Merida to Astorga through Salamanca and towns in Extremadura. But nowadays, the concept of Via de la Plata is applied not very clearly to the axis Seville-Leon. The Silver Route represents other historical values, besides the Roman footprint: It was used for trading American silver arriving at the Sevillian docks, it was a very an important route for the movement of pastures, and was the expansion route of the medieval Galician-Leon kingdom, in the second half of the twelfth century and the first of the XIIIth, in times of Fernan II and Alfonso IX, when the concept of the edge of Leon or kingdom borders was created.

From a Jacobean point of view, the Silver Route began to regain some importance in recent years, especially when it was signposted. Coming through the traditional Via de la Plata by Extremadura and Salamanca, another option when arriving Zamora is to continue to Benavente and Astorga and there get the French way, instead of turning directly to Galicia through A Seabra, the traditional denomination for Sanabria.

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A Canda - Laza - Santiago (11stages)
A Canda - Monterrei - Santiago (11stages)