THE MINERAL-MEDICINAL WATER
The most outstanding feature of the villa is the existence of "termal water" whose therapeutic properties were already know in Roman times.
Roman were the first ones who got to know the therapeutic benefits of this water. This fact attracted the nobility, the clergy and a big amount of people who came to Caldas to enjoy the properties of the water, having baths in the ponds and in the typical basins of that time.
It will not be before the end of the XVIII th century when the Authority starts to concern about the sanitary of these places, D. Joaquín Dávila will be pioneer in having the first spa built, with the passing of time it has become the "Spa-Hotel Dávila". After him, Pedro Acuña will be the next to stablish another bathing-house at the beginning of this century. Nowadays it is the "Spa-Hotel Acuña" just at the riverbank, it is surprising the thermal water big pool in it.
Scientifically the water is composed of sulphurated sodium-chloride hiperthermal property, with certain radioactivity. The temperature balances between 40º and 49º centigrades depending on the spring.
It is highly recommended for respiratory tracts, rheumatism, surgical problems and psychologic alterations.
Thermal bidet. Dávila Spa
It is obvious that third-aged people are the ones who demand these sort of services, for this reason it is usual to see a great amount of old people wrapped up and with the typical towel on their faces or throuts. The natives call them "Polish" or "Kept men" only just to identiflying them.
Spas at present:
Mirade water
Caldas de Reis is famous for the thermal water from the spas of Acuña and Dávila, acknowledged from the Roman time, when the villa was named "Aquis Celenis". The treatment with thermal water is suitable for respiratory track and rheumatism ailments. The spring of Acuña flows at 37ºC, while Dávila's is hotter than this, flowing water up to 47ºC.