A spa town (also called a bathing-place or simply a spa) is a specialized resort town situated around a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visited spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau (town of water).
The term spa is used for towns or resorts offering hydrotherapy which can include cold water or mineral water treatments and hot thermal baths.
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Famous quotes containing the word town:
“If I am to be a thoroughfare, I prefer that it be of the mountain brooks, the Parnassian streams, and not the town sewers. There is inspiration, that gossip which comes to the ear of the attentive mind from the courts of heaven. There is the profane and stale revelation of the barroom and the police court. The same ear is fitted to receive both communications. Only the character of the hearer determines to which it shall be open, and to which closed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)