The island of Patmos was the second port of our first official day. We had visited Ephesus in the morning and took a short nap between ports. Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, that is 13 square miles in size. It has a population of 3000 people in 4 villages.

The island has a small commercial port in Skala. It is too small for cruise ships to dock, so you have to use a tender or transport boat. We would be in port from 6:30pm to 11:30 pm.

Patmos is a significant place in Christianity, as it is where Saint John the Evangelist was sent to live in exile by the Roman Emperor Domitian. From the port we wound our way up the hill above Skala, where we had an excellent view. George was our driver and very good at navigating the narrow streets.

Our destination was the Holy Cave of the Apocalypse. There was a steep path to the cave entrance.

In the Mediterranean, places of spiritual significance have churches built over them.

In 95 AD while living in a cave, Saint John received a vision. He was instructed to write the vision down and later became the Book of Revelations. In the outer area, was an artist rendition of St. John. There was also an artistic interpretation of what John saw. The original fresco is painted inside the church that surrounds the cave. A fresco is a painting done in wet plaster.

You are not allowed to take pictures inside the cave, so we wrote a description…the cave is quite small. It has 3 large cracks in the roof, that are believed to be cracks that occurred during John’s vision and represent the Trinity or Godhead. There is a natural indentation in the cave wall, where John used to lay his head and pray. The number 7, which means totality or perfection is represented throughout the cave. In the Book of Revelation 7 is mentioned numerous times.

Our visit to the cave was quick and we tried to take in as much of the moment that we could. When we exited the cave, it was getting dark, which gave a completely different view of Skala. It was beautiful.

Above the Holy Cave of the Apocalypse, the Monastery of St John is a short climb up a cobblestone street. We were given a ticket to enter the monastery.

The Monastery of Saint John was built in 1088 on the ruins of a Greek temple. It is a Greek Orthodox Church and usually has 40 monks living there.

There are several outer courtyards with fresco murals.

The monastery has 3 chapels. You can not enter any of the chapels, but we were able to view the first chapel.

We were given a tour of the several areas in the monastery.

The monks tap on calling boards to alert the other monks when it is time to pray and eat. There are many window openings to allow fresh air.

We walked the narrow streets to a house owned by the same family for 15 generations. Most families have their own chapel inside their home, so there are 400 chapels on the island.

We could not take pictures inside the house, but it contained denistry equipment from the 1800s, as it was one of the family occupations. The original resident was a fisherman, the current resident who is a grandson, is a high school teacher.

Our walk took us past one of the government buildings on the village square. In the narrow streets you could not feel the wind, but that was not the case in the square, which sits on the edge of the hill.

Back on the bus, we headed to our last stop, a Greek restaurant, where we were served dinner in traditional Greek attire.

It was an interesting dinner, as we discovered the different flavors of cheese and Tzatziki, which is a salted yogurt. Jim fell in love with the fresh olives. Our tour guide, Karolyn brought us ouzo, but since we don’t drink we took her picture instead.

After dinner, there was a short program of Greek dancing

We had wanted to get a picture of the port sign and a nice lady told us this was the only sign, but she was Greek, so we could take her picture…lol. We did find the ship’s sign. Then it was back on the tender to the ship.

Returning to our ship, the hillside of Patmos was lit, creating a nice picture. It had been a whirlwind day, and the Norwegian Jade was a welcome sight.

The next day was a sea day…after our 38 hours of travel and 2 ports in one day, we decided to sleep in. Boy did we sleep in…4:10pm to be exact!! We did eat dinner and watch a beautiful sunset.