The two cathedrals
Both churches above the roofline from mid-bridge.
Tamorlan — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hovallef — CC BY-SA 4.0 · D.Rovchak — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Víctor Sánchez — CC BY 2.0
**A Roman bridge over the Tormes still walked on — and the best place to see both of Salamanca's cathedrals together** — south of the old city. It was built in the **1st century AD** as part of the ***Vía de la Plata***, the Roman road linking Mérida to Astorga. ⚠ **Only half of it is Roman**: **the fifteen arches nearest the city are original**, ⚠ **and the rest was rebuilt in the 17th century** after a flood swept it away in 1626. ✅ **At its entrance stands the Iberian bull** — **an Iron Age stone carving** predating the Romans by centuries, ⚠ **which appears in the opening lines of *Lazarillo de Tormes***, the first picaresque novel. ✅ **Walking it is free**, and it is the position from which the city is photographed.
Both churches above the roofline from mid-bridge.
Fifteen original arches, of larger stone than the rebuild.
An Iron Age carving at the bridge's entrance.
Puente Romano, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
**A Roman north–south road through western Spain — still walked today as a pilgrim route.** ✅ **What it is**: the ***Vía de la Plata*** is a paved Roman road running some **800 km** from **Mérida (Emerita Augusta)** in the south to **Astorga** in the north, ⚠ **crossing Salamanca at roughly its midpoint** — **hence this bridge**. ✅ **Its purpose**: **moving armies, goods and metals** — **gold and silver from the northwestern mines especially** — down to the southern ports. ⚠ **The name misleads**: ***plata* means silver in Spanish**, ✅ **but it most likely derives from the Arabic *al-balata*** — **the paved way** — **rather than from the metal**; **a neat instance of an Arabic word surviving in the name of a Roman road**. ✅ **Its use today**: ⚠ **it has become one of the pilgrim routes to Santiago** — **the Vía de la Plata or Camino Mozárabe** — **walked northward from the south**; **far less crowded than the famous French route**, ⚠ **and harder, with fewer services**. ✅ **You see it waymarked with yellow arrows** in Salamanca itself.
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