Greece Is The Word - Day 3

Day 3 - Saturday, October 15

Kusadasi and Patmos

Jeremy and I slept in a little on Saturday morning while Arielle and Daniel got up early to go to Ephasus. Since we had been there just a few weeks before on our Turkey trip, we took the morning to just walk around the port area. We got off the ship and were bombarded with people trying to sell us all sorts of things that we didn't want or need. Welcome back to Turkey! We walked by the ancient Caravanserai, where travelers used to stop to rest on their journeys. From there, we walked out of the tourist part of town and around into the more local area. After walking for about an hour we reached the top of a hill overlooking the water and Guvercin Adasi, the peninsula of Kusadasi. We walked down the hill with the view of the ship and the harbor in front of us, then planted ourselves along the water for a little while to watch the fish. On our way back to the ship we decided to stop at the ice cream cart that we had seen throughout Turkey, but never got to try. Its too bad too, because the ice cream was delicious! The guy was really funny, and put on a great show. When we got back to the ship we met up with Arielle and Daniel, and had lunch in the sit down restaurant. After lunch we rested for a bit, and Jeremy and I sat on the back deck on the ship watching the scenery on our way to Patmos. 

When we docked in Patmos we tendered into Skala and immediately got into a cab to take us to the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastery. Patmos is a very small island - they have a population of about 3,000 on an island of about 13 square miles. Our cab dropped us off at the Cave of the Apocalypse, which is where John of Patmos (St John the Divine) is said to have received his visions that he recorded in the book of Revelations. The cave is now surrounded by a sanctuary, which is surrounded by a convent. The cave and sanctuary themselves were beautiful, but the best part of the stop was the views of the city of Skala. From the hill we were able to look out over the lagoon where we had docked and see practically the whole island. Little did we know that the views would get even better as we went up to the monastery. The medieval monastery of St John really looks more like a castle or a fortress than a monastery. The inside of the monastery was absolutely beautiful, with painted frescos and ornate decorations dating back to the 12th century. We had some time before our cab picked us up, so after we explored the monastery we walked around the little streets of the town, then just sat and enjoyed the view of Patmos. The monastery is the highest point of the island, which meant that we had incredible views of the harbor, of Skala, and of practically the whole island. Our cab picked us up and took us back into Skala, where we walked around for a while and then found a cafe on the water to sit and have some appetizers. On our way to the restaurant there was a motorcade for a wedding with everyone honking as they drove down the street. It was really fun (and loud) to see! After our snack we tendered back to the boat and had dinner at the Greek buffet. After dinner we had thought about doing something on the boat, but we were all so tired that we just hung out and discussed what we were going to do the next morning in Crete.