Monday, April 18, 2022
This afternoon, we took a trip out to the Spanish countryside to visit the natural geothermal baths and travertines. In this area, the countryside feels like what you would imagine of the US southwest. It is expansive with rocky hillsides, rugged shrubs, and cacti. Almond and olive trees also grow here. Our guide told us that some of the old cowboy movies like the Good the Bad and the Ugly by Clint Eastwood were filmed in this area.
The spring water flows down from the mountains so the higher you go up the stream, the warmer the pools become.
The waters are rich in calcium carbonate and in one area in particular, the water forms travertine channels rising up to 15 meters from the ground. The channels almost appear to be man-made but the sides of them are formed from calcium precipitation over at least 3,600 years and they are covered with grasses and plants.
Check out the short video below I made from our experience!
