Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Tourism

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always some stalls seling the local majolica ware. This bright and often rather crudely colored ware, which is also obtainable throughout the town, is very different from that found in the north.

History

The story to which the town owes its name - "the Queen's hot baths" - is that the virtues of the mineral springs were discovered by Queen Leonor, wife of Joao II, who observed the local peasants bathing in the water to cure pains in their joints. She then sold her jewels and used the money to found a hospital (1484), to which she herself often came to take the cure.