“Waters that Heal” takes the traditional public washbasins and the element of water as its starting point to reflect on alternative forms of therapy and on ways of connecting with the spontaneous vegetation that surrounds us.

The workshop will take place at the Fontainhas traditional public washbasins, a space that preserves traces of the collective memory of the people who once gathered there to wash their clothes. The place name “Fontainhas” is also closely linked to water: it derives from the Latin fontanīna, meaning “small spring,” in reference to the many fountains and natural springs that once abounded in this area of the city.

Here, on this balcony overlooking the Douro River, we will share different methods of extracting the chemical compounds of medicinal plants using water, such as infusion, decoction, and maceration. Participants will learn how to prepare water-based home remedies to treat symptoms related to water in our bodies—such as urinary infections, phlegm, fluid retention, dehydration, diarrhea, boils, and heavy menstruation—making use of the therapeutic properties of wild plant species previously gathered along the Alfândega railway line.

Special attention will be given to plants that are, in some way, associated with water: whether because they grow in damp or periodically flooded areas, such as wild mint, chickweed, and watercress; because they have hydrophobic leaves (that is, leaves that repel water), such as nasturtium; or because they are riverside species, such as elder.

Through these practices, the workshop also proposes to recognize water as an element of care—both within our bodies and in the ecosystems we inhabit.