Wikipedia
This article is about the Thermal Springs. For the Cypriot footballer, see Sotiris Kaiafas.
Kaiafas or Thermal Springs of Kaiafas ( Greek, Modern: Καϊάφας) is a spa in the municipality of Zacharo in southwestern Greece. It is located SW of Athens, SE of Pyrgos, S of Olympia, nearly N of Kyparissia and some NW of Kalamata.
The Thermal Springs of Kaiafas is a geological formation that consists of a spring where warm water comes from deep inside the Earth's crust and flows up to the surface. The spring is located inside a naturally formed cave in the foot of the Lapithas mountain. The water of the spring contains an important concentration of sulfur compounds and is also rich in minerals.
It has been reputed since ancient times to have therapeutic properties, and there is a spa facility exactly outside of the cave's mouth. The river and cave area has been a tourist attraction for millennia, originally being the center of the myth of the Anigrides, to whom people would pray, and bathe in their waters in order to cure afflictions like leprosy. In modern times it's visited by people who want to bathe in the thermal water of the spring for more general health reasons. The springs location is very close to the Kaiafas Lake and the sandy beaches of the Ionian sea coast.
Much of the area is covered with pine forests, in which the Pinus halepensis pine species prevail.