Stages 32 : Start in Salamanca
All along this route one can observe worshipping monuments dedicated to the apostle Santiago in several cities, such as Amarante, whose bridge and monastery are consecrated to S. Gonçalo; also as Braga, whose Romanesque cathedral has been built as a centre of rival pilgrimage to Compostela and passing through Guimarães, the birthplace of Portugal, a magnificent historical city that built the first hospital for pilgrims. Serra da Penha is also a place of an impressive natural beauty and well-known for its well-defined character’s population, like the one’s of the founding king of the Portuguese nation, D. Afonso Henriques.
History, patrimony and nature are in symbiosis and have a special emphasis in this route, since in almost every city there is a cathedral, castle or monument of high value and importance inserted in nature, as the “Sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Braga and the Castle of Guimarães.
This route was designed in honour of Diego Torres, a professor at the university of Salamanca, who was exiled in Portugal and made this route in 1737- reason why it was given the designation “Torre’s way to Santiago”.
