Home ·

Article translated by an automatic translation system. Press here for further information.

Stage 7

Stage from Zafra to Almendralejo

km 36,7

Time 09H 15’

Difficulty Medium

Hostels 4

Available without an Internet connection

The stage can be extended to Almendralejo, capital of the Earth of Barros

Information about the stage 7: Stage from Zafra to Almendralejo

Enlarge map

Points of interest in the stage 7: Stage from Zafra to Almendralejo

14 Monsalud Palace
13 Church of Our Lady of Purification
12 Landscape of Barros Land
11 Ermita Virgen de la Coronada
10 Church Our Lady of the Valley
9 Casa Perín
8 Villafranca de los Barros
7 Hostel and old almzara
6 Our Lady of Angels Church
5 Los Santos de Maimona
4 Albergue Turístico Vía de la Plata de Los Santos de Maimona
3 Casa del Ajimez
2 Albergue Convento de San Francisco Zafra
1 Alcázar de los Duques de Feria

The route

Km 0. Zafra(All services)

The pilgrimage continues from Calle Ancha de Zafra, next to the tourist hostel Vía de la Plata. We follow her in front and link to San Francisco Street until we cross the road. At the front, the San Francisco Tower, the only rest of a former 15th-century convent. We went with her and an urbanization to take the path that ascends, among particular properties, to the Sierra de San Cristobal. We descend by a pinar to the very entrance of Los Santos de Maimona, first and only village to Villafranca de los Barros, located over fifteen kilometers. We enter the population on Zafra Street and continue to the Plaza de España. Here, in front of the City Hall, is the Church Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, which we surround on the left to pass next to its silver front.Remember that in February 2015 the new pilgrim hostel was premiered located on the street Maestrazgo.

Km 3.9. Los Santos de Maimona (All services)

We must not lose sight of the trail of the yellow arrows, which lead to crossing the road EX-364 and to continue along the road network of this Pacense town. We leave Los Santos de Maimona crossing the bridge over the Rivera de Robledillo (Km 5). On our right, more than a kilometer away, the railroad tracks and our inseparable N-630. Ahead of it, a long stretch of olive vines and antiquisimos awaiting patients the yes or no of an oil refinery, whose uncertain construction is giving much to talk. We will go next to the diversion heading to an old almazara, where we can find the Hostel la Almazara reopened.(km 12.2)

Later we reached the junction with the road of Ribera del Fresno or the Moros. We turn for him, to the right, looking for the railroad tracks and the N-630. We're going through the arcén a few meters, passing under the highway bridge, and we're leaving the road on a well-marked path that's born right. Leaving behind the national we turn left and progress for 4 kilometers to the gates of Villafranca de los Barros. We enter this town, named City of Music, by an autonomic road and, guided by the tiles decorated with the yellow vieira, we walk through the streets of the Chivalry, Zurbarán, Martínez and Larga to reach the plaza where the church of Nuestra Señora del Valle is located.

Km 19. Villafranca de los Barros(All services)

We walk up Santa Joaquina Street, Plaza Corazón de Jesús and Calle Calvario to reach the chapel of the Coronada. On the left hand we take the street of San Ignacio, where the Institute Meléndez Valdés is located. We take the road and, seven hundred meters later, cross the road BA-6004. We continue, surrounded by olive groves that give way to the monopoly of the vineyard and the clay, the main ingredients of the landscape of the Barros region.

The public field El Chaparral will be our next reference, leaving the broad track on a narrower path between the vines (Km 23,7). In three and a half kilometers we reach a wider road through which we turn left towards the Bonhabal stream (Km 28,6). After this we head forward for almost an hour until the crossing with the road BA-013 (Km 32.9). The official route to Torremejía continues from the front. If we take the road to the left we will reach Almendralejo, almost 4 kilometers away.

Km 36,7. Almonds(All services)

The difficulties

Remarks

In images

What to see, what to do

LOS SANTOS DE MAIMONAAhe coat of the Sierra de San Cristobal, that separates it from Zafra in the south, Los Santos de Maimona in the north the region of Tierra de Barros. Vine, olive and cereal lands where there is rich cinegetic activity thanks to the presence of partridges, hares and rabbits. The word Maimona comes from Arabic, because, as much of our peninsula, these lands were conquered in 712 by Muslims. At a stop, which they called Cabezo de Maimona, they began to build and plot the streets.
- Plaza of Spain: From 1929 and also known in the village by the name of Paseo de las Barandas. In it is the City Hall and parish church of Nuestra Señora de los Angeles.
- Church of Our Lady of Angels: Construction of the 16th century. It consists of three naves and rectangular floor in Gothic - Renaissance style. The Plateresque Gate of Forgiveness stands out.
- In this palace, built in the first half of the XVI, lived the local commander of the Military Order of Santiago. Each commission was an administrative centre where private donations, war rallies, farm receipts, etc. were collected and received.

VILLAFRANCA DE LOS BARROSEhe itinerary of Antonino, map of the roads that traveled the Roman Hispania during the imperial era, situated in the term of Villafranca de los Barros, specifically in the place known as Las Vegas and situated north of the locality, the mansio Perceiana. This fact, of great relevance today, represents the passage of the Roman road that linked the mouth of the Guadiana, in Ayamonte, with Mérida. With hardly any news about the events that occurred centuries later, Villafranca was reconquered, repopulated and incorporated into the Order of Santiago in the second half of the thirteenth century. It is known with the adjective of Barros, which refers to the region, since the second half of the 19th century. It was previously known as Villafranca del Maestre and Villafranca de Extremadura.
- Church of Our Lady of the Valley: It was built in the early sixteenth century on the old church and its works lasted 66 years. Its facade tower rises above the highlights of the complex. We refer to the Door of Forgiveness, an elaborate Gothic flamboyant cover.
- Hermitage of the Virgen de la Coronada: It is a calmed and Nineveh building from the end of the 15th century and from whose era still retains the main chapel and the first section of the tower. Erected in honor of the Virgen and patron of Villafranca who, every 8 September, coinciding with the day of Extremadura and the feast of harvest, celebrates the festivities in their honor.

ALMENDRALEJOLhe current capital of Tierra de Barros began to form after the reconquest and repopulation of lands dominated for centuries by Muslims. In the thirteenth century, families from Mérida began to expand south and settled on a land covered by almonds. From the first appeal like Almendral de Mérida he derived in Almendralejo, because it constituted a small entity. Today, settled in a fertile region and forgotten its cerealistic past, is the kingdom of the vine and the olive tree. About 20 wine cellars show the seat of the regulatory council of the Designation of Origin Guadiana.
- Church of Our Lady of Purification: Declared a good of cultural interest, it was built between 1522 and 1539 on a chapel of the 15th century. It highlights its whole. The buttresses of the apse are rounded with pinacles and gargoyles and show two shields: the imperial of Carlos I and the parish coat with a jar of whiskey, the shells, the Cross of Santiago and the almond. The temple is one nave divided into five sections.
- Monsalud Palace: Built in 1752 it was the birthplace of the romantic poet José de Espronceda. Today it is the seat of the City of Almendralejo.
- Night of the Candelas: The early morning of February 2, the neighbours of Almendralejo burn hogueras that crown with the panarujas, symbols of evil. After the ring of bells the candelas are turned on, full of wood and old disks, and in the many places the chorizo to the brasa is disguised. The festival is declared of Regional Tourist Interest.