Back to the ship

Giving us a half hour to look around the monastery was more than enough time. There wasn't a whole lot to see other than the cloistered area and a couple side rooms. Methinks the "interesting" stuff is off-limits to the tourists. We headed back down the hill stopping at a couple of the shops. Gail picked up a picture of St. John for our pastor while I bought a guide book describing the sights of Patmos. An informative little book with lots of nice photos it did not mention anything about my theory of foreign invaders taking over the monastery at some point. When we reached the parking area at the bottom of the monastery neither of our cabs were waiting. We spent almost 15 minutes waiting for our rides, all the while worrying we would miss the 12:00 tender. Finally just over the hill a cloud of dust and the high-pitched whine of over-revving Toyota four cylinder engines told us the boys were back for us. We piled in our cabs and got firm grips on the door handles while we plummeted downhill. Actually I was finally enjoying the ride. I began to realize that these guys were pros and probably flew up and down these roads for years. We reached the cab stand none the worse for wear. Gail gave our driver the agreed upon 25 Euro plus a 5 Euro tip for getting us back bruised but alive. We hustled over to the nearby docks where a crowd of about 50 people waited to board an awaiting boat. We were lucky enough to end up sitting on the deck at the back of the boat. The loading off this 35 foot boat took about 15 minutes as they just kept boarding more and more people. I couldn't believe how many people were sent below decks. They had to be standing on top of each other. When we reached the Sea Diamond, the crew was very meticulous about the unloading order, no doubt afraid we might capsize if too many people suddenly shifted from one side to the other.