Day 13 – Thurs June 25 - Patmos
I was up in time to watch a most beautiful dawn creep over the high hills of Patmos on the eastern side of the village of Skala, basically the ‘capital’ of Patmos. Our Hotel is set into the foothills on the western side of Skala, at the bottom of the mountain on top of which is the massive Holy Christodoulos Monastery, dedicated to the Apostle John.
The Hotel is a series of small units, which are terraced into the hillside, which means climbing stairs depending on what level your room happened to be. We were on a second level ‘terrace’, with a balcony view over the lovely pool area, and with sweeping views across the village of Skala and the eastern hills. It was a delightful place from which to greet the new dawn.
We met for breakfast at 7am, and started walking at 9am back into Skala where we boarded a bus with a guide (Nicholas) who was taking us for our visit to the mountaintop Monastery, and the cave of the Apocalypse of St John.
It was quite a climb but with sweeping views back across Patmos, which looked stunningly beautiful with its white washed houses and deep emerald blue ocean. It was a view that kept us preoccupied. Our first port of call was the cave of St John. History has it that John the Apostle was exiled to Patmos during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, when the elderly John was living at Ephesus. It was approximately 95AD. It is said that St John made his home in the cave, which he shared with his disciple Prochoros. It was here that he heard the voice of Jesus, like ‘a loud voice of a trumpet blast’ telling him to write what he saw in his vision of Christ. He actually dictated it to his disciple Prochoros, which we now have as the book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.
According to the best of church tradition, the cave on the hillside below the great Monastery was the cave of the Apostle John. It now has a small chapel built over and around it on the steep hillside, which has proved to be a very significant point of pilgrimage for Christians down through the centuries. A Monk was on duty going about his daily ‘chores’ as we stood in silence inside the cave, listening to our wonderful guide. A chapel and sanctuary have been built around the cave, which otherwise would have had expansive views down on Skala and across the beautiful harbor.
We were back in the bus and taken to the very summit, to the Monastery of Holy Christodoulos, which stands out like a large fortress (which was intentionally built this way as protection and defence against pirates. The monastery was built in the 10th century by the Monk Christodoulos, which takes his name. It is a small village on top of the mount, with boutique shops, a maze of narrow lanes, some houses and of course the original 10th century chapel and a museum with some amazing historic manuscripts, icons and many other valuable items of great historic value to the Orthodox church.
I must say it is very hard on the legs and feet to stand for hour after hour while listening to the otherwise excellent information and explanation by our guide, who was extremely knowledgeable. Exactly at 11:30 we were given 30 minutes free time, so I happily spent the time on a small coffee shop veranda with our friends Lynn and Glenn, sipping an Iced Coffee, admiring the stunning view over the beautiful Aegean Sea.
By noon we were in the bus, heading back down the mountain and rather pleased that we had the afternoon to ‘do our own thing’ which there has been precious little of during the past two weeks. Julie was all congested with ‘flu’, and after a quick sandwich lunch together, spent the afternoon in a deep, much needed sleep while I went straight for the local Hire Shop and for 5 Euro, hired a Mountain Bike for the afternoon.
It was quite warm with the sun beating down, but I was keen to do some high mileage and explore as much of the island as I could. I headed straight up the mountain to the Monastery, which is a 4km climb with no let-ups. The views going up and on top were just glorious. I went straight over, the road winding down through some ancient, rugged landscapes with amazing evidence of centuries old rock ‘fences’ very similar to England. The road eventually came back to the coast and found its way back into Skala following the beautiful coast. I then kept going to the hills and small towns at the other side of the island. It was a wonderful adventure with lovely sights in every direction.
I returned to Skala with still much time on my hands, so I climbed the mountain to the Monastery all over again, completing the loop for the last time. My ride was 35k, with 1150mts of climbing, averaging about 16kph.
We all showered, met at 6:30pm and walked around the bay to a ‘Pub’ upper verandah for dinner, looking over Skala harbor. It was our final night, due to depart on the 11:45pm ferry. Julie and I enjoyed an evening stroll through the beautiful Skala shopping centre with its tiny shops, walkways and laneways, sharing a final ice-cream and hot chocolate before queuing, along with a few hundred other people, for what amounted to a stampede akin to the Kalgoorlie gold rush, into the bowels of the ship when it docked. It was ten minutes of high pressure, to get our bags dumped in the basement, get to reception along with a hundred others, to get our keys to our small but lovely bunk room.
Sleep didn’t come easily, but we were far better off than most, who sat in the lounge/café areas to sleep the best they could. The evening passed too quickly, but both Julie and I were cold in our room with our single small blanket each, being ‘on the chill’ all through the night.
By 7am we were showered and sitting with coffee on the open side deck, watching as the sun loomed up behind us as the Greek mainland began to fill our view. It was a lovely setting, the end of a very long previous day, and the dawning of one more new day.
Today we explore the Acropolis that towers over the city of Greece with its Parthenon, and visit Mars Hill where St Paul gave the sermon of his life!
Until then…..
KRA
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