Two cultural routes families, that of pilgrimages and that of historic thermal towns, come together very naturally in Ourense. In this Roman town, at the crossing of Via de la Plata and the Portuguese Route, the baths here have played both a sacred and a hygienic role. The hot water gave rise to a legendary world prolonged into the Middle Ages by pilgrims’ devotion to the miraculous and healing waters, a world of ancient deities, that the Aphrodite and Venus baths, that of the visit of the nymphs and the god Revve, double of Borvo, cousin of Undine and Melusine. Gods of water, springs, rivers and tides. The spirituality of miracles, baptisms, baths and cures. This encounter of the very foundations of life is not restricted to Spain. On the Ways of Saint Michel, Saint Martin de Tours, towards Saint Gilles and Assisi, crossing the Via Francigena on the way from England, there are a great number of thermal towns, as much halts for wellness as for prayer.

PILGRIMAGES AND SPIRITUALITY