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History SPA. 32. Route. 207
cent on the charges at the baths, in the theatre, and at fétes. Between
May ist and July 3rd, and between Aug. 25th and Oct. 10th 8 weeks’
treatment, with baths, board, and lodging, costs 350 or 260 fr.
Concerts in the Promenade de Sept-Heures at 2.30 and 8 p.m. (see
p. 278) from mid-May to mid-October. i
Post and Telegraph Office, Rue Louise (open 7 a.m. to7 p.m., Sun. 7-11).
Horse Races in the Hippodrome de Sart. — Pigeon Shooting in the
former Hippodrome de la Sauveniére. — Regattas and Venetian Fétes on
the Lac de Warfaz (p. 278
Golf Course on the race-course.
Baths: Elablissement des Bains (see below), Place Royale, open 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m.; baths for subscribers {\/2-5 fr. — Swimming Bath: Ecole de Na-
tation, Promenade du Lac (60 ¢.).
Bookseller & Library: Engel-Krins, Rue Royale 23.
English Church Service, in the handsome English Church of SS. Peter &
Paul (Pl. 8) in the Boul. des Anglais; Sunday services at 8, 11, and 5;
4 E Chaplain, Rev. E. B. Tanqueray, B. A. — Presbyterian
e in July and August at the Chapelle Evangélique.
British Vice-Consul, H. Hayemal.
Spa (820-1080 ft. above the sea-level), a small, attractive-
looking town with 8100 inhab., is prettily situated at the 8. base of
wooded heights, at the confluence of the Wayai or Spa and the
Picherotte. Like other watering-places it consists chiefly of hotels
and lodging-houses, while numerous shops and bazaars with tempt-
ing souvenirs and trinkets, a pleasure-seeking throng in the pro-
menades, and numbers of importunate valets-de-place and persons
of a similar class, all combine to indicate that character which
occasioned the introduction of its name into the English language
as a generic term. This, the original and genuine ‘Spa’, the oldest
European watering-place of any importance, has flourished since
the 16th cent., though it attained its zenith in the 18th century.
Peter the Great was a visitor herein 1717, Gustavus III. of Sweden
in 1780, the Emp. Joseph IJ. and Prince Henry of Prussia in 1781,
and the Emp. Paul, when crown-prince, in 1782. After the French
Revolution its prosperity began to decline, but it has of late regain-
ed much of its popularity, and many new buildings have sprung
up. Itis now frequented by upwards of 412,000 visitors annually, a
large proportion of whom are English. The Season lasts from May
to October, and is at its height in August. The pretty painted and
varnished woodwares offered for sale everywhere are a speciality of
Spa (‘Bois de Spa’). The ‘Elixir de Spa’ is a fine liqueur.
The town is entered from the station by the Avenue du Marteau
(p. 278), which leads to the right past the former Queen's Palace
(Villa Royale; Pl, A, 1, 2) and the side-entrance of the Promenade
de Sept-Heures (see p. 278) to (1/2 M.) the Place Royale (P1.B,1),
on the left side of which is the chief entrance of the Pare de Sept-
Heures, while to the right is the Etablissement des Bains, a Renais-
sance structure by Léon Suys (1866-68). — Near this point, in the
tue Royale, is the Kursaau (Pl. C, 1, 2; adm. see p. 276), erected
by Chambin in 1903-1903 and partially destroyed by fire in 1909.
It contains a café-restaurant, ete. The ball-room and the theatre
are relics of the old casino (1763).
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