Patmos

 Saturday, September 16, 2023

 In the afternoon, we toured Patmos where St. John of Patmos (John the Theologian) wrote the book of revelations.  The weather was nice but this time I brought a hat, walking stick, jacket, and bottle of water.  The weather can be finicky - one minute hot then, chilly and cool. 

We had a local tour guide Nickolas explain how St. John retreated in a cave and received prophetic visions about the end of time, judgment day in the book of revelation.   He would be overcome by ecstasy and during these sessions, somebody presumably wrote down what transpired. 

Looking from the outside, you will not think the cave was preserved by building a protective facade around it.  Adjacent to the cave also was St. Ann’s church.  No photos are allowed inside the building.

We boarded the tour bus once more and proceeded to the Monastery of St. John the Theologian.  Today this “living” monastery houses 12 monks.  To get to the monastery, there is an increasingly steep ramp to negotiate.      It was helpful to have the walking stick to secure one’s footing specially during descent because the smooth concrete stones create a hurdle.

Again it was forbidden to take photos inside the monastery.  We only managed to view a small area of the church upon entering but there were relics and artifacts in the museum part of the monastery open to public perusal.

Nickolas showed us the skulls of St. Thomas and St. Philip displayed upon exiting the Monastery.  It was eerie and at the same time awesome to have witnessed the actual remains of these 2 apostles.  It authenticates through historical investigation the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that skein their lives and that of St. John.  It also creates more questions to those whose curiosity is not tempered by faith.

“Happy are they who do not see and yet believe.”

We boarded the cruise line once more and proceeded to a 6 course dinner specially prepared by 206 Tours, the sponsor for this adventure.

We had 3 types of bread with 3 different kinds of dip - cheese based, eggplant, and some kind of spinach.  Next was the octopus thinly sliced with lemon and onions.  Then we ate the lobster tail in pilaf rice with nuts and pomegranate.  A plate of 3 paper thin zucchini slices and tomatoes followed.  The main dish was the medium rare steak and eggplant, cheese and tomatoes.  Then salad with cheese to cleanse the palate and finally the dessert was a caramelized dome hiding sweet cherry sauce and whipped cream based sugary confection. 

Wine service was unlimited but the order of something else (tonic water with lime like I did) was an additional cost.  We ate for almost 2 hours and in the interim we “roasted” our tour guide Eleni.  Mostly, the feedback given to her brought about raucous laughter if not heartfelt thanks and gratitude for her expert leadership.  We all agreed that she brought her excellent project management skills and likable personality as an alchemy for a memorable experience.

I was too sleepy to stay for coffee and I headed back to the room.  Tomorrow will be another day.