STAGE: Torrefresneda - Mérida

From the Church of San Martín de Torrefresneda we have the option of going down to the River Búrdalo to continue towards San Pedro de Mérida or taking the asphalted track on the service road of the N-5 motorway from Badajoz to Madrid. Either of the two options will take us first to San Pedro de Mérida, where we will find the remains of a Paleo-Christian Basilica next to the parish church. We leave San Pedro passing by the Guardia Civil barracks. Continuing straight on, a narrow road leads to the dual carriageway, which we will follow parallel to it, keeping it on our left.

Never leaving this dual carriageway service road, you reach Trujillanos in 7 km. When you reach the first houses, it is advisable to turn right and walk along Calle San Isidro to enter the town and reach the beautiful parish church of La Santísima Trinidad, built in the 16th century.

At the end of the town, we take a dirt road that runs parallel to the A-5 motorway in the direction of Mérida, and after 4 km we turn left, passing under the A5 motorway, and head unequivocally towards Mérida, a city that we can see on our horizon at all times.

We will enter Mérida through the Renaissance-style Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, and along the Avenida Juan Carlos I, passing the CEIP Ntra. Sra. de la Antigua and the Roman Circus, we will reach the Basilica of Santa Eulalia, the first documented pilgrimage destination on the Iberian Peninsula and a privileged spiritual place on the Mozarabic Way of St. James. Going up the Rambla de Santa Eulalia we arrive at the Puerta de la Villa and from here we go down to the Plaza de España to continue to the Roman Bridge and the Alcazaba where the road meets the Vía de la Plata coming from Seville.