The health resort of Spa lies 35km/22miles south of Liège on the wooded slopes of the northern Ardennes in the charming valley of the Wayai or Spabach, which here is joined by the Picherotte. Within the town boundary are two springs and in the surroundings another seven which are alkaline and contain iron.
It is to these springs that Spa owes its fame as the "town of waters" ("Ville d'Eaux") and it was for a long time an elegant health resort attracting visitors from all over Europe for the relief of circulatory diseases, stomach and intestinal disorders as well as gout and rheumatism. The word "spa" became synonymous for health resort in English. Now only the old baths and pump room and a few hotels remain. Today Spa gets its living from patients taking the cure, from individual visitors and coach tours, and offers its guests facilities for sports and for relaxing in the very pleasant surroundings.
Although the efficacious springs of Spa were already known to the Romans it was not until the 16th C. that a kind of tourism grew up which brought such illustrious guests as Christine of Sweden, Charles II of England, Peter the Great, Joseph II, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Victor Hugo to the little town. In the First World War Spa was occupied by German troops and served as a convalescent center behind the lines. From March to November 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II set up his headquarters with his General Staff in nearby Neubois. It was here on November 9 1918 that he heard by telephone from Chancellor Max von Baden of his enforced abdication. In Spa there were conferences between the victors and vanquished of the First World War about disarmament and questions of reparation.
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Spa
