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O Abade Beer House
3.4 mi from the city centre · Chaves · Portugal
Chaves and its Roman hot springs
Chaves is known for its hot springs, which rise at 76 °C beside the River Tâmega and drew Roman legions to Aquae Flaviae. Read on for the Roman bridge, the largest Roman medicinal baths in the Iberian Peninsula and a castle that guarded the border.
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Chaves is a city in the north of Portugal, in the district of Vila Real, about 10 km south of the Spanish border, on the River Tâmega. It grew from the Roman settlement of Aquae Flaviae, which stood where three Roman roads met and was raised to the status of municipality in 79 AD under the emperor Vespasian, who gave it his family name. The Roman bridge over the Tâmega, attributed to the emperor Trajan, is the city's emblem.
Hot water is the reason the city exists, according to the town council. On the right bank of the Tâmega rise springs of a composition unique in the Iberian Peninsula, emerging at 76 °C, and tradition holds that Roman legions recovered in them after their campaigns. The Caldas de Chaves received their operating licence from King Carlos I on 12 October 1899. The council's Museu das Termas Romanas shows what are considered the largest Roman medicinal baths in the Iberian Peninsula, in use until at least the last quarter of the 4th century AD and lost for almost two thousand years.
King Dinis ordered a castle here to guard the border, and the keep still stands; after the Restoration War the forts of São Francisco and São Neutel were added to the city's defences. During the Peninsular War, French troops under Soult took Chaves, and Francisco Silveira later recaptured it. On 20 September 1837 the Convention of Chaves, which ended the Marshals' Revolt, was signed here. The painter Nadir Afonso, a pioneer of kinetic art, is counted among the city's notable citizens, and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea Nadir Afonso, in a building designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira, shows his work on a permanent basis.
Craft beer in Chaves is a rare find in this spa city of the Alto Tâmega. Keep an eye out for something local after a walk across the Roman bridge.
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Bars in Chaves
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Chaves is a city in the north of Portugal, in the district of Vila Real, about 10 kilometres south of the Spanish border. It stands on the River Tâmega, and its Roman bridge, attributed to the emperor Trajan, is the city's emblem and the heart of a city that grew from the Roman settlement of Aquae Flaviae.
According to the town council, hot water is the reason the city exists. Springs of a composition unique in the Iberian Peninsula rise at 76 °C on the right bank of the Tâmega, tradition says Roman legions recovered in them, and the spa received its operating licence from King Carlos I in 1899.
The two highlights are the Roman bridge over the Tâmega and the Roman baths shown in a municipal museum, considered the largest Roman medicinal baths in the Iberian Peninsula. They were in use until at least the late 4th century AD and then lay lost for almost two thousand years before being uncovered.
Beyond its Roman past, the city keeps the keep of the castle King Dinis built to guard the border, plus the forts of São Francisco and São Neutel added after the Restoration War. A contemporary art museum in a building by Álvaro Siza Vieira permanently shows the work of the painter Nadir Afonso.