From K-QED.

If you live or work on the San Francisco Peninsula, you probably spend a lot of time on El Camino Real. It's a road that runs from San Francisco

to San Jose through the center of many towns along the way. It's one of California's best-known

roads and if you grew up here, you probably learned about it in school.

The story goes, El Camino Real is an ancient road, built by the Spanish to connect the 21 missions along California's coast.

But here's the thing. That story, it's not exactly true.

This is Bay Curious, I'm Olivia Alan Price. Today we're bringing you a story that first aired on our show back in 2017 about the real history of El Camino Real.

Support for Bé Cur curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

Still family owned, operated, and argued over.

Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.

Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.

KQEDs Rachel Myro, senior editor of the Silicon Valley News Desk, hit the trail with this week's

question-esqueer.

We met at Mission Santa Clara because this story dates all the way back to the Spanish colonial

era in California. My name is Debbie Tori. I live in Campbell, California.

Tori asked Bay curious the question, what can you find out about the El Camino Real history?

My name is Robert Sankowitz.

I'm a professor of history at Santa Clara University.

Sankowitz is the man who can answer that and then some, starting with a perhaps surprising

truth that there were many El Camino Rales all over the land Spain used to control

in the new world from 1769 to 1821.

Royal Roads, that was what you would call the main roads in any particular area because

...