"You were going to bury your grandmother and in the niche you found your great-grandmother."

Writing about Caldes de Malavella is a bit intimidating because great writers such as Joaquim Carbó, Josep Pla, Josep Maria de Sagarra, and a few years ago Rafael Nadal (have already written texts about this municipality)The Italian's son), among many others. In Caldes itself, on the street, you can read some fragments of texts by these authors. I'm including this one, from Palau i Fabre: "Before marrying my father, my mother already went to Caldes to take the waters, because she had a bad liver. Later, the whole family went. We stayed at the Prats Spa. A party in the Vichy building. It was a kind of costume ball in which some very daring situations occurred, considering the time.

A walk through Caldes de Malavella with Regina Gispert, from the municipality's Tourism Department, and Pep Casas, a recently retired historian eager to share stories.

We're on Sant Grau Hill, at the heart of the town. We're facing the magnificent Roman baths, where there's a central "pool," quite well preserved.

"One of the unique features of these hot springs is their religious character. The gods granted healing benefits through the water," Pep Casas explains.

As a child, Regina used to play—and jump—in the hot springs. They're now protected. "The hot springs have been preserved because for centuries, from medieval times until the second half of the 19th century, they served as a hospital for the poor and transients," Pep emphasizes. "This prevented them from being used as quarrying, that is, from transporting stones to houses," he adds.

On this hill, next to the chapel, which is still preserved, was the old cemetery. "The thermal water made the bodies of the deceased last for many years," Regina explains. "What do you mean?" I ask. "Yes, the water didn't corrupt the bones, but solidified them," she replies. "You went to bury your grandmother and in the niche you found your great-grandmother. That's why they moved the cemetery outside the wall," she explains.

As we walked, Pep "revived" the figure of Pau Estapé, an industrialist from El Masnou, who bought the Bullidors fountain with the intention of bottling water. This fountain, which is just a few steps away from us, is one of the main springs of sodium bicarbonate mineral water in the municipality. It is still functioning today.

"A lot of people come from Caldes and want to bring water... Well, let's make things easier for them," said Estapé. He also had the goal of building a spa, but he didn't succeed. He wasn't as successful as the competition, led by Modesto Furest, the founder of the Vichy Catalan Spa Hotel, which is still active today.In the past, the Vichy Catalan springs could be visited. Not now. Furthermore, the remains of Roman baths similar to those on Sant Grau Hill have been made invisible, and perhaps eliminated," Pep tells me. "What do you mean, Roman baths eliminated?" I exclaim. "Well, either they're buried, hidden, or they've made them disappear. And they were there: there's a drawing from the 19th-century Catalonia Hiking Center that shows them very clearly. Unfortunately, there are no photos," he explains.

Pau Estapé sponsored the excavation of the Roman baths on Sant Grau Hill, which was directed by Norbert Font i Sagué, a priest, geologist, speleologist, naturalist, and writer. Pau Estapé, therefore, wanted to make the baths clearly visible, unlike Modesto Furest. They were two contrasting figures. Coincidentally, both were from Maresme. The first from El Masnou and the second from Sant Pol.

The bottled water sold by Estapé had various names, such as Agua Xala or Vichy Caldense. Until it was called Agua Imperial, which was "twinned" with San Narciso (which had the slogan "Drink San Narciso Water if necessary").

We stop at the washhouse on Sant Grau Hill, which has been restored. One of the privileges women enjoyed was that they could wash with hot water (yes, they were all women). And they can still do it now, both women and men. Both the temperature and the mineral content of the salts and carbonates in the water facilitate the cleaning and whitening of fabrics.

"Caldes experienced a second wave of thermal baths at the end of the 19th century," Regina notes. "That's when summer spas began, which spurred the construction of a group of houses with a clear modernist influence," she adds.

Of particular note is the Casa Rosa, which has a highly original entrance in the shape of an ace of spades, and the Manegat Tower, built by Dr. Jaume Manegat, who had made his fortune in Uruguay (and had another house in Caldetes: he loved spas!). He died childless and bequeathed this beautiful tower to his Dominican servant.

His family spent their summers in the Can Manegat servants' house, Lluís Manegat, writer and journalist, director of the Universal News, and Juli Manegat, novelist, playwright and journalist, who was the first director of the School of Journalism of Catalonia, of the Center of Catholic Influence, CIC.

We are now at the Mina fountain. A fantastic stream of very hot water comes out. "It has a very fine and tasty flavor, without the intense carbonation that other bottled waters have," Pep tells me. This is where Pep frequently comes to get water, and he fills several jugs. There are lines for Fill carafes with this water, to drink at home and also to soak and cook chickpeas, beans, etc. I "catch" water with my hand. It seeps through my fingers, but not enough to enjoy a few sips. It's excellent!