Island of Patmos

Patmos I found the prettiest of the Greek-islands-with-a-WHS. It does particularly well on ‘views’: of the blue sea and the surrounding islands, of that little chapel against the blue sky, of its obligatory row of windmills. The three components of its WHS also look well cared for. Like the other islands, Patmos does see its fair share of cruise ships, anchoring in the bay outside of the harbour: in 2022, no less than 285 of them will arrive. Overall, I encountered many more 'regular' tourists than pilgrims, which took away a bit of the holy atmosphere of the island.

When you arrive at Patmos from the sea (there is no airport), you’ll immediately notice the large fortress on top of the highest mountain on the island. What looks like a castle is in reality the Monastery of St. John. It was only half past 11 when the boat delivered me, way too early to check in at the hotel. So I had a first look at the WHS. About once an hour there is a bus from the port town of Skala to Chora, the old town where the monastery is also located. The distance between them is only five kilometers, but it's a steep climb.

Many people visit Patmos as a day trip only from one of the other islands, so it is busiest around noon when the boats have arrived. Fortunately, I had two days here, so I saved the more popular sights for the other …

A hole in the rock wall that might shape our future

While visiting the island of Samos from the island of Chios in mid-October 2020, due to my time constraint I made only a day trip to the island of Patmos by ferry where I stayed only for 5 hours between 10:30 and 15:30. 

The ferry departs from the port of Pythagorio, a WHS city, in Samos, so it is rather easy to combine visits to these two WHSs. The ferry ride, through some other islands, was about 2 hours. 

I had to plan the time allocation carefully, especially because both the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of Apocalypse take an afternoon break between 13:30 and 16:00. So I had only 3 hours between 10:30 and 13:30 to visit the two. I took a taxi immediately after the ferry arrived at Skala, the main city of the island of Patmos, to the town of Chora where the Monastery is located. 

The monastery is on top of the hill that is Chora and dominates the area. As I walked up from where the taxi dropped me off, I also saw several souvenir shops / stalls. The whole scene somewhat reminded me of Mon San Michel in France. 

But the monastery created in the 11th century looks more like a castle / fortress than a religious compound. It probably signifies its special place in Christianity. The general public are allowed into only two …

Patmos Island is reachable by ferries from Rhodes, Mykonos and Samos. From the port of Skala buses travel up the steep winding road to Chora, location of the fortified monastery of St John.

Besides the distinctive architecture of the monastery, the frescoes are quite stunning, particularly those within the chapel.

On the descent by bus from Chora to Skala I stopped off to visit the cave of the Apocalypse, a detour involving descending and climbing several steep flights of steps.

Patmos was a lovely, quaint town with very friendly people. the water there is not potable which I found surprising but the island was a gem. We were on a cruise that stopped there and we spent way too little time.

The monastery and cave were very well preserved. I toured both and just being somewhere where St. John had actually been was pretty awe inspiriing. Not enough is known of this small, beautiful and historic island and perhaps that is part of its' immense charm.

Isn't it surprising that,almost 12 years after inscription, this is the first review of this site? It isn't as though getting to Patmos is difficult; it can easily be fitted into a Greek island hopping trip (in my case after Samos and before Mykonos). Accommodation on the island is plentiful too.

The WHS doesn't include the whole island (which has an area of 34km2 and a population of about 3000) just an Old Town, a monastery and a cave. These can easily be seen in one day.

Approaching from the sea the Chora(the old town) is seen occupying the highest parts of the hill rising above the harbour with, at its summit, the monastery of St John, protected by massive walls.

On a warm and sunny day in October 2004 I was pleased to be offered a pillion ride up the winding road to the top of the hill. Many parts of the monastery are closed to the visitor. What can be seen consists of small rooms and the courtyards between them with lots of intriguing passageways. Close by the entrance is the main church; it is small, atmospheric and rather gloomy with many of the frescoes all but obliterated by centuries of candle smoke. The Treasury museum contains the customary plate, silverware etc and is particularly strong on books, manuscripts, codices and the like.

The Old Town is in some ways like a small Arab town with houses showing almost blank walls to the passer-by, though a number of …