NO WAY BACK
sweet and spacious are all
before they jump
on your back,
full is the breast while
you can see it full
and silvery are the paths
until you take
the first move
sweet and spacious are all
as long as you think
you can still come back
The Rite of the Silver Path -- John Harris
Most people think the pilgrimage route "Vía de La Plata" in Spain means "the silver way." However, the "plata" in the name is not derived from the modern Spanish word for silver but rather from the Arabic "al-balat" (cobbled paving), which was merely the translation of the Latin name for it: Via Delapidata ("Paved Stone Way"). The Romans built it as a trade route between Asturica Augusta (Astorga) in the northwest and Emerita Augusta (Mérida) in the southwest in order to exploit gold, according to Gaius Plinius Secundus ("Pliny the Elder"), the procurator in Hispania Tarraconensis.
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