Backroads Europe

A first Portuguese stopover, from Braga to Lisbon, discovering the main Roman roads of Europe. The great cobbled Roman roads formed a dense network of 85,000 kilometers and crisscrossed Europe from the Atlantic to Asia Minor. In Portugal, the Via Publicae, the country's main north-south axis during Roman times, linked Braga to Lisbon and allowed trade to flourish.

The Etruscans knew paved roads as early as 400 BC. The Romans took over - like so much else - the art of street construction from their former masters and brought it to perfection. Rome was the center of a vast empire. The city is still full of traces of this glorious time. This also includes Largo Argentina, a square with antique columns from the third and fourth centuries BC.

In 56 BC, the Romans conquered Gaul, bringing their knowledge and civilization with them. Streets were laid out, city maps drawn and lush villas built. Narbonne was the first Roman colony outside of Italy. And Narbo Martius, capital of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, was the second largest Roman port after Ostia. For a long time it rivaled Arles and Marseille and was an important hub for goods and raw materials: metals from Aquitaine, grain, oil, amphorae and slaves from Brittany and Spain. The wine history of the Corbières region began when the first grapevines were planted by the Romans in 125 BC. The Via Aquitania led through today's vineyards of Château Coulon and Château Veredus.

As part of the route from Lutetia (Paris) to Constantinople, today's Istanbul, the Via Julia, which has only borne its name since the 19th century, was the main connection between the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. At its western end, at the gates of Günzburg, is the largest previously uncovered Roman burial ground north of the Alps. With a total of more than 1,840 graves, it is the second largest in Germany. The 1,430 grave inventories attest to the importance and prosperity of ancient Guntia. Augsburg is located on the Via Julia between the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach. Augusta Vindelicum, capital of the newly founded Roman province of Raetia, grew out of the military camp in the year 1 AD. The Roman emperor Augustus is considered to be the founder of Augsburg. His bronze figure on the pillar of the Augustus Fountain in the heart of the city is evidence of this.

Partially expanded by Julius Caesar during his Gaul campaign, military parallels can still be found along the Via Romana between Geneva and Basel. For example, in Bière, not far from Lake Geneva, where a fortress of the Roman occupiers once stood, the Swiss military is now practicing. The so-called Toupins, the parade bells for the annual alpine lift in Vaud, are still forged on the same edge of the village. Bells were also found as additions in Roman graves. You should protect the dead from the ghosts. On the shores of Lake Geneva, the Via Francigena leads via Vidy, where the Roman ruins of Vicus Lousonna are located, to what is now Lausanne. It was not until the 4th century that the city moved from the lakeshore to the hill on which a cathedral now stands.