STAGE 26a Campanario - Don Benito (Variante)

In this stage we follow the same itinerary, but in the town of La Haba, we turn right to follow the well-known ‘Cordel de la Plata’ road to the town of Villanueva de la Serena. This town, which belonged to the County of Medellín and the Priory of Magacela of the Military Order of Alcántara, began to gain prominence in 1423, through a privilege signed by the Master Fra' Don Juan de Sotomayor, in which it was definitively freed from the town of Magacela.

Its rich heritage includes the current Parish Church of San Francisco, a former Franciscan Convent, the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción or the Monastery of San Benito or Palacio Maestral and the Palace built by the Master of the Order of Alcántara, Juan de Zúñiga y Pimentel in 1494, not forgetting the modern chapel of Santiago Apóstol, patron saint of the town.

From the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción and the Monastery of San Benito we reach the exit of the town, and once we have crossed the railway line over an elevated bridge, we leave the town in the direction of Don Benito along the signposted path that runs right past the back of the Don Benito-Villanueva Regional Hospital.