When the Romans arrived 2,000 years ago, they immediately saw the potential. And so they immediately started building hot baths. Nothing appealed to a Roman legionary more than a steaming restorative soak after a hard day spent bashing wild Teutonic tribesmen, and the hot springs in what is now the German spa town of Baden Baden must have seemed a gift of the gods.
Truth to tell they still do. If you can cope with the hellish temperatures.
"After 10 minutes you forget time," remarked American writer and humorist, Mark Twain, following a session in Baden Baden's grandiose Friedrichsbad spa. "After 20 minutes you forget the world."