Spa Story The Ardennes

In a 1862 Napoleon III–style building 300m west of Spa's casino, the small but engaging Spa Story museum charts the town's history while looking at the evolution over time of jolités (the lacquered souvenir boxes of water-cure accoutrements once sold to spa-goers). Summaries are in English. At weekends you can also visit the stables section containing a series of horsey exhibits and an old forge. The building itself is interesting: while Belgium’s King Léopold II was playing colonial domination in Congo, his feisty Hungarian-born queen stayed here in what was then an exclusive hotel, avoiding the boredom of Brussels by riding her horses across the Ardennes.