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Published: June 19th 2011
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Patmos
The view down to Skala Saturday 18th June 2011
We had a lazy start to the day and there is no breakfast at our current location so no reason to hurry anywhere. We have cooking facilities and can make ourselves coffee which is great. The other bonus is a washing machine in the room. So we popped out and found a good sized supermarket not far away called AB and bought some washing powder. We returned and with the help of the room cleaner put some washing in.
Then sometime after 11 o'clock we headed off to explore the town. Our first task was to buy our next ferry ticket and find out ferry times. We have decided that we will move down the Dodecanese chain picking and choosing the islands we wish to visit and skipping those we don't.
The next possible island to visit would have been Leros but after investigation we will skip that one and move on to Kalymnos.
The first ticket office we came to was open and a very helpful young lady gave us three different options. We choose the better time option although it wasn't actually the cheapest. So we are now booked to travel
Patmos
The monastery of St John the Theologian on Monday 20th June, at 1345 hours on the Dodekanisos Speedways vessel Dodekanisos Pride from Patmos to Kalymnos at a cost of €26 each. It is a catamaran service.
So we then continued our stroll and found a little restaurant called La Strada, we had a continental breakfast, omelette, coffees and water all came to €14. The bread was really nice and we thought very good value.
Then continued our stroll looking at the fishing boats and yachts. We came across a very big sailing yacht called Oriel which we thought was stunning.
Then back round towards the town and stopped for refreshments at a place called Ostria.
Pat wanted to look at the other side of the island which we can see from the roof terrace at the apartment, so we headed of and in no time at all there we were at the other side. Much less going on here with fewer buildings and so on.
Then looking at the shops as we headed back to the room arriving at 4 o'clock.
We relaxed for the afternoon and left for dinner at 8 o'clock.
We walked past the Greek Orthodox Church information centre and decided to go in and see what we could find out. St John the Theologian, a disciple of Christ who spent time on the island of Patmos, had a revelation and wrote the Apocalypse; The Book of Revelations. The cave where this was written and a monastery dating back to the 11th Century with a museum are on our list of things to do tomorrow.
The lady in the centre was very helpful and we watched a little video and were given various bits of information.
Then we wandered off and went to the Ostria restaurant where we had a drink earlier in the day. They had a set menu which appealed and went for that. A vegetable soup, Greek salad, chicken & pork souvlaki and fruit salad for dessert. This was €13 each and with drinks the bill was €31.50. There was more food than we could eat and we were both stuffed. A good meal.
Then an amble back to the room.
Sunday 19th June, 2011
A slow start to the day, we left the room at 11 o'clock to catch the 1130 bus up to Chora and the monastery which was ₤1.50 each. The bus journey takes only a short while and there we were looking down at Skala.
The monastery boasts the "grandest museum in the Aegean", well it is better than the average Greek museum, but not much more. There are some very old and priceless antiquities with some very important Christian artefacts. Entrance fee was ₤6 each.
We walked down to the cave of the Apocalypse and quickly looked into where St John wrote his stuff.
Then we walked back down the hill to Skala. A drink and a snack at Ostria watching the world go by again.
Then a walk back past a couple of small cruise ships in today and back to the room for 3 o'clock.
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