Feel free

Within Europe there are great contrasts in the way hot soaks are regarded and/or experienced. Some countries have managed to transform the natural phenomena into spa's which nowadays only vaguely refer to their natural origins. Other countries have medicalized their waters and restrict their use to 'patients' (see Aquistas).

Spain though, despite it's cultural forwardness in prior times (Romans, Moors, conquistadores) has let many a soak fall into disrepair / neglect. Notes in case are Tiermas, Santa Fe, Hedionda, Alhambra and Arnedillo (Rioja) to name a few.

Included in this listing should be the termas of Bande or as they were known in the Roman time as Aquis Querquennis: a Roman camp with an adjacent thermae. And such is the wish of the local tourism office, they would like the name to stick; but Bande is much more easier to pronounce (and spell) ...

Termas de Bande or Baños de Bande are located in Ourense province, along the Conchas reservoir on upper reaches of the Rio Lima. 

Background info in English on these soaks is scarce, so we'll have to make do with what's available in Spanish (or Galician) and pray google translate is able to come up with something remotely understandable.

A good point to start with an internet search is the blog site of Las Termas de Bande. Oddly, it only contains two entries which does not help us much, as well as the rather short text. A summary: better in winter, it's then quieter and there's a lower level in the adjacent reservoir?

More pictures from the termas while the reservoir levels are lower on this blog published in Portuguese.

More info comes with assistance of the all-natural soakers. Lugaresnaturistas has an entry on Bande termas. Noting it's temperature of 40C, it adds:

 '... you can sunbathe in the most naturalist, because nobody looks at anyone here and the feeling of freedom is full'. 

Or as this website puts it, au-naturel bathing is habitual:

'En las termas la mayor parte de la gente toma los baños desnuda ya que es algo habitual y luego, como zona de playa, está las proximidades a estas termas'.

Down stream

Downstream of Bande hot springs closer to the border with Portugal are the hot springs of Torneiros and the Lobios Caldaria thermal spa resort.
Starting with the former, this 85 rooms, 4 star resort features a hot spring and belongs to the Caldaria concern:

'The Thermal Spa has two entries one directly to the hotel and one that connects with the exterior. The treatments follow the line of those of Thermal Spa Laias Caldaria**** and Arnoia Caldaria***.

The water is hyperthermal, with low mineralization, bicarbonate soda, chlorate, and it appears with a spring temperature of 77,1º Celsius, and can be drank or used topically after being submitted to a naturally cooling process. The Riocaldo river waters are specially indicated for chronically digestive problems, respiratory and rheumatic affections, skin problems and dieresis cures. Besides that its specific characteristics make them ideal for the development of aesthetic treatments and Stress cures. The Thermal Spa is divided is two floors: in the upper floor one can find the hydro therapy techniques. In order to increase the communication among our clients, we made a Termarium, a place where different group techniques can be developed – dry and moister heat cabins, aromatic showers, tonus massage, jacuzzi, relax thermal spa swimming pool and warm couches. At the Termarium we reproduce ancient techniques that were commonly used by the Romans. In this floor we also have the inside thermal spa swimming pool, equipped with swan neck jets, underwater jets and a marvelous view over the Xurés Natural Park mountains.

In the lower floor there’s a quiet ambience for a correct use of the mass therapy and aesthetics. Besides the massage and aesthetics rooms our clients can also find a small gymnasium where physiotherapy techniques can be developed as well as physical exercise tabs (bicycle, mechanical walking, etc…)'.

Objectively, this resort scores a 7.8 on booking.com, garnered from 28 reviews; heed that tripadvisor's reviewers are less enthusiastic.

Torneiros looks like a great natural soak. A couple of pics from this blog. More extensive is this Portuguese website.....

  'A piscina e as termas'.

Source

Aquis
More info on the surroundings of the Bande termas.
There is quite a bit of info on Aquis Querquennis (AQ). Mostly in Spanish and focussed on the non-soak site, there is still quite a bit of info both on the history as well as current conditions of the hot spring. Why the camp here? According to Europeanheritage.org:

'The place was chosen because it’s an easy place to access, with pastures, big amount of firewood and thermal springs'. 

Other data are the origins (around the year 0) and the fact that the archaeological digs started in 1975.

The camp site reminders

Originally there was a village in the reservoir, Baños de Bande was submerged in 1947 (source).

Access to the hot springs and archeological site is very straightforward, highway OU-540 which goes straight from Bande to the Portuguese border. There is an official website concerning the Aquis camp remains and museuem.

So my personal experiences ...

Coming from Bande, in the hamlet of Portoquintela there's a turn down a narrow alley which after 200m opens up to a broad street. To your right is a good (snack)bar, left a cobble stone street heading to the AQ museum and ahead is a treelined parking space. The museum is a very flash affair, free entry though.

Despite the emphasis of the museum of the roman camp, two signs on the entrance door sufficiently emphasize that the visitors are mostly coming for the hot springs. One sign reads 'aguas de banõ de calidade insuficiente' (bathing water of insufficient quality) the other 'recoméndáase non bañarse' (recommended not to bathe). We shall see ...

 

Inside the museum, are a great amount of halls dedicated to the archaeological finds further down the street. In all, it certainly provides tremendous heaps of info, if only I could read Spanish ....

So after the museum (we were 'forced' to follow the complete tour by the singular lady at the reception. Despite being the only visitors, ambling randomly was not an option!)

Where was I? So after the museum, down the street, towards the reservoir, where the Roman camp once existed. Continuing from the camp site remains onwards one comes to ruins of a Roman villa and then the hot springs themselves, located at the top of an inlet of the reservoir.

The Roman villa. Far side is where the hot springs are ...

There's separate access here, a few locals were checking out the scene, having a soak or setting up camp themselves, it was a Sunday after all.

 

So despite all the warnings locals keep soaking ...

On my visit, most of the sources were submerged, rendering them mostly lukewarm soaks in the otherwise chilly reservoir. One source though was not submerged and was very hot and afforded a great soak.

Author mentally preparing himself for ensuing soak (or adjusting the feet to the temps ...)

Termas de Bande, a great place to feel free(dom) and soak.

Aquistas

Waters
Portugal boasts it's fair share of thermal hot springs. Though wikipedia seems to be oblivious to this, Termas de Portugal counts 38 termas (Portuguese for hot spring) as it's members, a figure the excellent (but Portuguese language only) Águas Termais attributes as those hot springs for which commercial concessionaires exist.

The former adds a number of now dried up geothermal springs, as well as partial geothermal and quite a list of commercial mineral water bottlers. For one thing has become apparent on my visit to the Portuguese termas, and that is the fact that the Portuguese like their waters ...

(Do note though that confusingly the area around Furnas on the Azores island of Saõ Miguel counts no less than 22 hot springs, none of which were counted in the above mentioned ....).

Certified
Portugal and hot springs go back a long way and it seems that like many of the other European cultures the Portuguese prefer the medical benefits of thermal waters. Sod the socializing.

Thus it has seen fit to transform their natural springs to scenes of medical dedication. Such that if you would even remotely dare to take a soak, a doctor will have to certify whether or not that need be the case. Naturally forking out 50€ or so, just to be told that "yes, you can take a soak" seems to fend off the touristy type, in need of a one-off soak, the hippy or the novice.
What remains are a geriatric generation who do need to heed the doctors advice, who stand to benefit most from the waters and whom have the freetime to say use the advice taken to stay for a week or two of great soaking ...

Even the art of sampling the waters with a couple of sips will sometimes require a signature from yourself absolving the termas of any liability in case you just might keel over or die. Or less.

Aquistas of Chaves
Any road, one of the 38 concessions mentioned in the first paragraph lies in the town of Chaves, Vila Real district, glued to the northern border with Spain. Serving the wider mountain region, Chaves (pronounced as chaaves, as in chives) has seen quite some historical turnovers leaving it with a long Roman bridge and a number of forts and towers which in some time had managed to either keep conquerers at bay or dissuade would-be liberators from freeing the town.

Naturally, it lies along the banks of stealthly slow flowing Rio Tamagas and boasts of it's bathing waters. Well, this blog will see if the boasting is fair!

Chaves by night

The wider region of Chaves though, to it's credit, does mention in the local tourist brochure, an upswing in aquistas (persons who undergo medical treatment by bathing in thermal baths). The upswing is thought to be due to the increased awareness to health and well-being. Unfortunately the brochure (produced by the Alto Tamega e Barroso tourism office) is undated and also unsubstantiates this trend.
Specifically it adds for the termas of Chaves:

'The medicinal properties of the thermal Spa of Chaves were discovered by the Romans, and soon became an ex-libris of the city. They are the most accredited spas in Portugal, having the hottest thermal waters of Europe. All year round they are visited by thousands of people finding treatment for rhuematism, nutrition diseases (obesity[!], gout and diabetes), disorders of the liver, intestines and hypertension'.

Operator Termas de Chaves supposedly (poor translation?) adds on it's Portugese language website that the waters are unique for the Iberian peninsula and facilities are geared to receive 15,000 'patients'.

Then the charges:

• just 35€ for the doc, 
• but then 30€ signage fee and 
• another 20€ for nutionist.

That´s just €85. Oh, and then if taking a soak, add the mere €5,50 to that figure.

Sourced
Other excellent info from the Wikipedia Chaves entry:

'The hot springs (Portuguese: Caldas) were known since the Roman period, when the town was Aquae Flaviae; the Waters of Flavius were an important social gathering point, but fell into disuse as the town was slowly abandoned by attacks.

...

The waters of the spring, that are captured in three springs within Chaves, have mean temperatures of 73 °C (163 °F) (the hottest bicarbonate waters in Europe). The modern spa industry in Chaves use these waters for numerous treatments, including stomach, liver, intestinal, and kidney ailments, through oral ingestion. Many small guesthouses in the old part of the town are dependent on the influx of these visitors. The thermal spas are located between the castle and the river, in front of a large area of grass-covered park with playgrounds and tennis courts'.

There is actually an archeological dig in the center of Chaves not too far away from the hot spring, in line with the bridge which should contain remains of some original roman spa, but as there was a high fence around it, can't verify this ...

Flickr member frproart has a number of photo's before the fence was constructed.

The spring in the old days, possibly before WWII. Source

Sampling the soaking source
So I skipped the soaking part, but decided to nose around. Besides the intense medicalisation of soaking process here, another aspect of Portuguese hot spring culture is the ability to sample the waters by drinking. Thermal springs of the official kind cater to the vox populi: free glasses of water.

 

Fill her up please. Inside the Termas de Chaves buvette

In a building alongside the spa there is a nurse like figure doling out plastic cups of water straight from a tap, we hope that's connected to the hot spring. The water is not hot and has little taste. To fully appreciate the flavour of this plastic cup of water, there a number of chairs and benches, mostly occupied by the elder part of the globes population. There's not much I can say about the water though I do like this tradition, a buvette [refreshment stall] along the soaking facilities.

Outside the buvette is supposedly one of the aforementioned three sources. Steam rises up with a faint smell of sulphur; the only actual hint that something geothermal was apparent.

 The source

So you may have guessed, I didn't soak at all.

And from the lack of sources, neither have many other netizens ...