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Camino de Santiago is a mystic, historic, and magical tour. And nowadays, it can be also labeled as social. It has more than eight “official” routes, recognized by the Santiago Cathedral. And you can earn the title of Compostela if you are able to do it on foot (minimum of 100 km required), on horse or bicycle (200 km), or a sailboat (92 nautical miles, 6+ km). All of these modalities have encouraged more and more people to come and go on pilgrimage to Santiago. Without going any further, a total of 327,378 travelers arrive in the city in 2018, according to official stats.

Of that total, nearly 9,000 take Via de la Plata, former Roman route that connected Merida with Astorga for 490 km. Today, this route invites visitors to do a pilgrimage that connects Seville with Santiago de Compostela, via Zafra, Merida, Caceres, Salamanca, and Zamora, 705km until Astorga, which merges later on with the route Camino Frances to the city of Apostol.

It is exactly this area —the conjunction between the route of Via de la Plata and Camino Frances in the Galician province of Ourense— the one travelers must take into consideration when it comes to take good care of your comfort and regain your energy to face the rest of the trip. This is because Ourense is a province rich in thermal and mineral-medicinal waters and has a great offer of thermal spa. 

The perfect example is the Roman baths of Bande. According to local bathers, the water of these pools has very strong regenerative properties; and flows from deep inside the Earth at 42 Celsius degrees. It is not recommended to bathe for more than 10 minutes to avoid hypotension; hence, we make sure these periods of time, mixed with a walk by the shore or the reading of a book, are enough to achieve the necessary relaxation in between the routes.

Many modern travelers have their own plans to the last detail and do not have the chance to decide on other plans along the way. Consequently, it is very important to bear in mind the psychological and physical fatigue that comes after so many kilometers on foot, horse, bicycle, or boat; and therefore, to foresee a relaxation day in Ourense’s thermal waters.