Explore Kapsia Cave: A Unique Adventure in the Peloponnese

This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book called Travels through History : The Peloponnese.

The Kapsia Cave is the most enthralling cave I’ve ever been to. If you’re travelling from the area of Nafplio or Mycenae to Mantinea or Tripoli, then you should plan to come here first, before continuing your journey. I have to admit that my judgement might be clouded because I was getting a personal guided tour through no fault or organisational ability of my own. I just turned up at the right time. Isn’t that what Woody Allen said: 80 percent of success is showing up? I prefer to think this cave balanced up the horrible experience I had at the Prometheus Cave in the Caucasus in Georgia, where there were 72 people going through this ill-lit large cave system trying to listen to a guide speaking quickly in three different languages. At Kapsia Cave, it was just me in a well-lit smaller cave listening to a guide speaking in one language, English. 

The cave was discovered in 1880 and opened to the public in 2010. It has its own special species of cricket and spider, as well as colonies of bats. As you would expect, there are many stalactites and stalagmites, not just straight ones but ones growing sideways and diagonally. There are colours all over, ochres, purples, blues, and oranges. There are caverns and alcoves, lights and shadows, low ceilings and higher roofs. The pathways are clean and easy to follow.