I swapped burnout for hot springs on a Greek island

Can Evia's waters, where the ancient Greeks once bathed, be a cure for writer's exhaustion? Heidi Fuller-Love investigates

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An overpowering stench of rotten egg rises from clouds of steam surrounding a bathtub-sized hole.

It was carved out of the rocks here several millennia ago.

Shivering in the late spring breeze whisking off the bay beneath me, I slip into my swimsuit and slide inside. Worn by the bodies of countless bathers, the stone is silky soft. I soon forget the eggy scent of sulphur as I sink up to my neck in the hot spring waters and watch the sun descend in a scarlet blaze over the bay where Agamemnon sheltered with his warships on his way to Troy.

I’m in the remote town of Edipsos in northern Evia on the first stage of my journey to see if Greece’s mineral-rich waters, which the ancient Greeks once prescribed for treating “imbalances in the humours” and akidia (brain fatigue), can heal my writer’s burnout.

Bubbling out of the ground at 35C, Edipsos’s mineral-rich springs – that were “sent by the gods for healing” according to ancient Greek philosopher Pausanias – have been popular with “greats”, ranging from Aristotle and Strabo since the 4th century BC. A celebrity magnet right up until the late 20th century, stars including Greta Garbo, Omar Sharif, and Maria Callas once flocked here in their bathing suits and budgie smugglers to “take the waters”.