STAGE 07 Fuente de Cantos - Zafra

We leave Fuente de Cantos along the old Roman road, and soon arrive at Calzadilla de los Barros, a small town with a name and coat of arms very typical of this walk, which has a church-fortress built in the 15th century, where one of the best Gothic-Renaissance altarpieces in Extremadura is preserved. Crossing the river Atarja, the path runs between cattle farms and farmland, some olive trees and abundant vineyards.

Crossing the railway line, we arrive at Puebla de Sancho Pérez, a town with several bars where we can rest, or in the shade of its church, with its beautiful façade, and regain our strength.

We enter Zafra along the railway station promenade, which will soon take us to the centre of the town. This Muslim-founded city has been declared a Historic-Artistic Site, with the Alcazar de los Duques de Feria, with its central courtyard by Juan de Herrera, today converted into a national parador hotel; the Colegiata de la Candelaria, with nine paintings by Zurbarán; the Convent of Santa Clara; the Hospital de Santiago and the plazas Grande and Chica, the latter with the ‘vara de medir’ carved on one of its columns, as it was the site of the market. Three of the eight ancient gates are preserved in its walls: the Palace Gate, the Cubo Gate and the Jerez Gate, so called because the road from Jerez de los Caballeros leads to it.