Padilla de Abajo between the Vía Aquitania and river plains

Padilla de Abajo is located in the Odra-Pisuerga comarca in the west of the province of Burgos, amid broad river plains between the Odra and Pisuerga rivers. The landscape, the history of the routes and the sacred buildings offer distinct perspectives for exploring the area.

Culture and history

The architectural history includes the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Torreón, with its single-nave layout and semicircular apse. The hermitage lies 500 metres northwest of Padilla de Abajo on the road to Padilla de Arriba. As a late Romanesque building, it is dated to 1298 on the basis of a Latin inscription. It was built mainly in the 13th century and remodelled at a later date.

The Archdiocese of Burgos lists the Iglesia de los SS Juanes in Padilla de Abajo as a Bien de Interés Cultural. The monumental Baroque high altar of the Iglesia de los Santos Juanes dates from around 1700, is structured by four Solomonic columns and includes sculptures and reliefs of the saints to whom the church is dedicated.

Roman milestones are small columns that marked distances in Roman miles along Roman roads. One Roman mile is equivalent to 1,480 metres. Two Roman milestones were discovered in Padilla de Abajo in 1968.

The cultural evidence can be viewed on three scales: the building structure, its furnishings and its historical function. The differences between an inscription, an altar and a milestone provide different points of reference for the history of the place.

Historic routes

The Vía Aquitania runs from Grijalba through Padilla de Abajo and Melgar de Fernamental, continuing on to Osorno.

It follows the Roman road of the same name that connected Italy and France. Its Spanish continuation was the Vía XXXIV Ab Astúrica Burgalam between Bordeaux and Astorga. In the Itinerario Antoniano, the route bears the number 34 and the designation De Hispania in Aequitania.

The Castilian section of the Vía Aquitania was designated a new historic route by the Comisión Jacobea and the Junta de Castilla y León.

The two Roman milestones may have belonged to the Roman road running from Astorga to Bordeaux, which is also known as the Vía Aquitania.

Other places at the same level

The same destination level also includes Bisjueces, Armentia, Buniel, Guzmán, Medianas, Peñacoba, Mamolar and Santa Inés.

Landscape and routes

The different details about river courses, directions and types of activity can be considered separately for your own planning.

Routes start from Padilla de Abajo along the Odra and Pisuerga rivers. In addition, mountain biking routes lead towards Burgos and Citores del Páramo.

A holiday apartment in Padilla de Abajo can be considered based on travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions. These details form a separate practical framework alongside the historic routes, river plains and sacred buildings. For personal planning, accommodation details and the characteristics of the place described here therefore remain separate levels that can be compared independently. This allows different travel plans to be considered side by side according to their respective details, without overlapping the history, landscape or routes of the place.

For the overarching travel overview: Burgos.