Ruta de la Plata: Salamanca to Leon

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Salamanca

   Salamanca glows. Its buildings are built from a golden sandstone that takes on a honey colour in low sun, and the effect, especially in the late afternoon in the Plaza Mayor, is memorable. The city stands on the Tormes river in western Spain, about 800 metres above sea level, and is one of the great university towns of Europe, with a student population that gives the old streets life well into the night.

   Read the complete Salamanca write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Salamanca is where the day begins. Next is Zamora.

2. 2. Zamora

   Zamora is a city built on a rock above the Duero, and it is overlooked in a way that suits its quiet temperament. The old town sits on a ridge on the north bank, with a medieval stone bridge reaching across the river, and the whole place feels slightly apart from the rest of the busy plain around it. It is said to have more Romanesque churches than any other city in Europe, about two dozen, built mostly in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries when Zamora was a frontier town between the Christian north and the Moorish south. Their rounded arches and plain stone walls give the streets a sober, weathered look that is especially fine in evening light.

   Read the complete Zamora write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Zamora comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Leon.

3. 3. León

   León has been a city for nearly two thousand years, since a Roman legion made camp here, and the old rectangle of the Roman walls is still partly visible in the heart of the town. The name itself comes from the legion, not from the lion that now sits on the city's flag, though locals prefer the lion. In the Middle Ages León was the capital of a kingdom, and later it became a major stop on the pilgrim road to Santiago, so the old quarter is full of churches, monasteries and inns that pilgrims used for rest.

   Read the complete Leon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 208 km.