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The huge attraction of Patmos is the famous monastery in which St John the Divine is believed to have written his famous Revelation, the last book of the Bible. If you had been there at the same time, you could have looked out from his hill-top eyrie and seen “four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth” etc. Today, you will more likely see four cruise liners from the four corners of the earth and bus-loads of their contents creeping up the winding road towards you. It is odd to visit a small Greek island and find its modest harbour crowded with cruise liners; but that is what can happen when several ships converge on it at the same moment. Which said, for most of the time there is not a cruise liner in sight and the island reverts to lotus-eating mode. If you have any sense you will explore the island because it is not just the Chora and the beautiful, still inhabited and fully operational monastery which make the island special. The road along its spine, especially to the southern tip, is extremely dramatic and there are many sandy beaches to enjoy, some with the statutory taverna, others with just nature for company. The small town of Skala (the port) has become increasingly attractive in recent years and sports plenty of shops and restaurants. It inevitably lacks the steep, narrow alleys of the Chora (containing the monastery) but it’s an airy, pleasant place for an evening stroll and often with more down-to-earth sized yachts and caiques than the visiting liners. Patmos can be easily combined with a stay on Lipsi, Leros or Kalymnos; the gateway airport is Kos.
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