Patmos

The sailing during the night was smooth and during breakfast we docked at the “holy island” of Patmos. The monastery at the top definitely looked like a castle and if we didn’t know, we would never suspect that it was a monastery. We had to be properly dressed since today’s visits were all going to be to religious places.

Our buses were on time and a few minutes later we were on the way to the cave of the apocalypse, the place where St John the Baptist wrote the book of revelations. He came to Patmos old and wise at the year 95AD. Since there was nothing on Patmos at the time he found shelter in this cave. One night he heard the voice of God speak to him and he felt his presence. Not long after this he was dictating the book of revelation. He stayed in Patmos almost two years and then went back to Ephesus where he died. The island remained deserted and that explained why a monk in the 11th Century chose Patmos to build a monastery on the island and devote himself to God. The pirate raids made him decide that before anything else was done, a protective wall needed to be built. He unfortunately did not live long enough to see his dream come true, but his will was fulfilled by the monks who shared the same dream. Slowly the monastery was built and religious treasures started to be collected in order to be saved and protected. The Byzantine atmosphere of the isolated monastery gave the monks the opportunity to make this into a spiritual centre and eventually a school of theology and philosophy was established on the island.

We visited the church, and of course the museum, to see some of the treasures from the monastery on display; such as manuscripts, icons, blessing crosses and vestments. Coming out it was as if we were leaving another world behind us. Some of the Byzantine mystery was still in the air.
We walked a bit in the Chora, and then we had some free time down in the port where the shops and the cafés with all their noise brought us back to the real world.

The afternoon was spent again in a small cove on the island. Swimming was the perfect ending for the day.