Discover Topas: Castillo de Buen Amor and Vía de la Plata

Topas: Castillo de Buen Amor and Vía de la Plata

Castillo de Buen Amor is located in the municipality of Topas, next to the village of Villanueva de Cañedo. The hermitage of Villanueva del Cañedo is also right next to the castle. A detour just over two kilometres long leads from the Vía de la Plata to the castle near Villanueva de Cañedo. For orientation, these are different spatial references: the municipality of Topas, the neighbouring village of Villanueva de Cañedo, and the castle as the destination of the detour. The hermitage remains a separate building next to the castle. If you are interested in cultural heritage, you can distinguish the castle and the hermitage as two neighbouring buildings rather than treating them as the same destination. The distance also has a clearly defined scope: it refers to the detour from the Vía de la Plata to the castle, not to the entire stage.

Route and landscape

The Vía de la Plata is designed for travel on foot, by bicycle and on horseback. Stage 8 runs from Calzada de Valdunciel to the provincial border with Zamora. Castillo de Buen Amor and the Cárcel de Topas are marked on the route map for this stage. These details serve different purposes for orientation: the modes of travel describe the route’s intended use, the two endpoints define the stage, and the map entries identify two places in the context of the route. This makes it possible to consider the route’s format, the stage’s course and the points on the map separately, rather than reading them as equivalent types of information.

The landscape description adds both near and distant views to this picture. The route descends to the Rivera de Cañedo, which stretches across a broad plain there. From a hill along the route in the Topas area, the view extends across more than 100 kilometres of landscape; the Gredos and Béjar mountain ranges are named as reference points. The Rivera and the plain represent the landscape along the route, while Gredos and Béjar help orient the view into the distance.

Religious buildings and festival traditions

The Iglesia de la Virgen de la Asunción de Topas dates from the 15th century and houses an altarpiece of considerable artistic value. An altarpiece is the decorated structure at the altar; the term refers to part of the church’s furnishings, not to the church building itself. The church thus brings together two distinct aspects: the date of its construction and a particularly prized work of church furnishings. If you are interested in architectural history or sacred art, the building’s age and the altarpiece each offer a specific point of reference for understanding the church.

Hundreds of worshippers from Topas, Valdelosa, Calzada de Valdunciel and several places in the province of Zamora take part in the annual celebration in honour of the Virgen de los Remedios. The places of origin listed link the celebration with participation beyond Topas. A procession around Castillo de Buen Amor was planned after the midday Mass as part of a celebration in honour of the Virgen. The castle therefore features not only as the destination of the route detour, but also in a religious festival context. A 2021 report identifies Topas’s patron saint festivities around 13 June as being in honour of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Discover more destinations: Calzada De Valdunciel, Ledesma, Carrasco, San Martín Del Castañar, Endrinal, Guijo De Ávila, Candelario, La Alberca

For the overview of the wider area: Salamanca.