Therma Spa

Therma Spa is a bathing complex on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Gera, on Lesvos, at the 7th kilometre of the road from Mytilene to Kalloni. The spring was used for therapeutic baths in antiquity. The site now joins its old bathhouses to a modern spa.

The water

The water starts from roughly 2,500 metres down and rises as an artesian spring at about 39.3 °C. It runs straight into the pools with no additives or processing. A Royal Decree of 1951 designated the spring “THERMA” as a thermal spring, and a government decree recognised it again in 2019.

History

In the 18th century the Ottoman admiral (Kapudan Pasha) Hüseyin built a reservoir for 10 to 12 bathers and renovated the rooms where visitors waited. Olivier G. wrote in 1794 that locals thought the waters invigorating for chronic ailments, and J. Dallaway noted in 1797 that Turkish women came to the springs when ill. In the late 1800s a hotel floor was added above the main bathhouse, with a two-storey store for salted goods nearby, and more building followed in the 1920s. The upper floors were later pulled down and the ground level, with its original tanks, reinforced in concrete, which left two Ottoman-era bathhouses with domed roofs. Private operation began in 2015.

Baths and treatments

The traditional stone baths are separate for men and women, take up to about 10 people and are fed by a continuous flow from the spring. An open-air mixed pool with sea views holds about 12. There are also private bathtubs for 2 to 4 people, with hydromassage if wanted, and three jacuzzis. The spa has a dry sauna, which can be combined with other services. Massages are aromatherapy with almond oil and essential oils (30 or 55 minutes), Swedish (about 50 minutes), Indian head massage on the head, neck and shoulders (about 40 minutes), deep tissue (about 50 minutes) and prenatal (about 30 minutes).