Caldas de Reis

You are facing a small town located on the banks of the Umia River and with a strong thermal tradition. It has two spas and a public source of water with healing properties that emanates from the bowels of the soil at about 40 degrees of temperature.

The town is crossed by the Portuguese Way to Santiago de Compostela and it is very common for pilgrims to rest in this place using their hot springs.

Recomendations:

Source of As Burgas

Botanic garden and oak gorve. Natural settlement with lots of species of plants and trees brought from the five continents

Roman bridge over the river Bermaña

Church of Santo Tomás, Built in the 19th century. The walls of the apse area can see remains of the windows that belonged to the Tower of Doña Urraca.

Replica of the Golden Treasure. It is located in the Auditorium of the town and is a replica of a 27 kilogram Treasure that was found in 1940 although today less kilograms are preserved.The original Treasure can be contemplated in the Provincial Museum of Pontevedra.

Nearby places:

Church of Santa María, located in the Portuguese Way. Romanesque style.

Waterfall of Segade. Which can be reached by walking from the town center through a beautiful path along the Umia River. In that area we will find many restored mills and the remains of a hydroelectric factory.

Nearby QRs:

Padrón

Termas

More information:

Tourism office (Caldas de Reis)

Websites of interest:

https://www.riasbaixas.info/caldas-de-reis.html

http://www.caldasdereis.com/visitar_c.php

More information:

Study of the treasure of Caldas de Reis

You are in a place bathed by water: the Umia River, which on its way through this town leaves areas of great interest due to its flow, generating fluvial beaches and fresh forests where a large number of species of flora and fauna live.

The name of this town comes from and is based on its history. First the Roman name and later in the Middle Ages Caldas de Rex.

The first evidence of settlers comes from the Cilenios, a village located between the Ulla and Lérez rivers in the Bronze Age. In Caldas we have the heaviest treasure of the peninsula (it is estimated that it originally weighed 27 kgs., although now reduced to 14.9 kgs.) and one of the largest treasures in Europe at the time, called the Caldas Treasure, found in 1940 by D. Amalio Touceda, the As Silgaras Deposit. According to studies, it dates from 1500-1600 BC and today it is on display in the Museum of Pontevedra.

Already in Roman times, the itinerary of Antoninus passed through here, on route XIX that linked Braga (Bracara Augusta) and Astorga (Asturica Augusta), passing through what they called Aquae Celenae. Thus establishing a place to rest and use its well-known thermal waters. Due to its importance, it was given the administrative category of “municipium”, which gave it the rights of Roman citizenship, and it was also the headquarters of one of the Roman legions that garrisoned Galicia.

During Swabian rule, Caldas became an Episcopal See until 569, when, due to problems of invasion and war, it lost its status and was transferred to Iria Flavia. It thus lost even the name that the Romans had given it.

The name Caldas de Reis appeared later in the 12th century, when Alfonso VII (son of Queen Dna. Urraca de Castela and her husband Raimundo de Borgoña, Count of Galicia) spent long periods in the village where his mother had a defensive tower. In the Middle Ages, a large number of Romanesque churches were built. The castle that the Queen owned was destroyed and the church of San Tomé was built with its stones.

At the end of the 16th century, Caldas ceased to be under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Santiago, and was named Villa de Realengo by King Felipe II, from whom the residents of Caldas bought the right to administer themselves as a free municipality.

In the Modern Age, Caldas had relations with Pontevedra and Santiago, so it maintained a good position for its parishes.

Thanks to the free market and fairs granted by the archbishop of Santiago, the town underwent several changes; The current Real de Caldas street (called ‘Rúa Vella’ or ‘Camiño Real’) organised the main settlement of the town, from the emblazoned and porticoed mansions of different noble families that held an important power of rents at the mercy of the collection of ‘forums’, such as the house of Barba Figueroa, to the inns, workshops and dwellings of the working classes engaged in various artisan and peasant trades, such as the bakers of Calle de los Hornos, who supplied the city of Compostela with a large part of their wares.

There was an important presence of blacksmiths and shoemakers in the old neighbourhood of Vilar in the street of La Ferrería, who carried out a very important activity in the 17th century. And in the place of La Tafona, the leather tanneries were established from the 17th century onwards.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the merchants of Caldas de Reis organised the linen fabrics trade in the whole region, while weavers, tanners and palilleras made up the core of the local industry.

The parish of Arcos de la Condesa was a very important textile centre, where a group of artisan bell makers were already established, who still maintain the tradition in Badoucos.

In the 19th century in Caldas, Mr. Laureano Salgado, one of the main promoters of electricity in Galicia, was born and built one of the first continuous paper factories in Spain and a power station in Segade (the origin of the most important Galician power station).

Throughout all these periods, it is worth mentioning the importance of the waters of the burga, as they were not only used by the local population, but also by people demanding the ancient “fonte quente” to take baths and cure different illnesses.

Caldas is located within the “Depresión Meridiana”, a fault line that runs through Galicia for 140 Kms, from Carballo to Tui, and in its path at certain points it brings to the surface waters of high temperature and important composition.

In the case of Caldas, its waters belong to the group of hyperthermal sulphur-chloride-sodium waters. From the point of view of medical hydrology, this type of water is, both in terms of temperature and composition, one of the most interesting in the whole of the region.