Patmos

After sailing overnight (or going by engine...we were not sailing the whole time), we arrived at the harbor of Patmos in Greece. 

Greece looked just like I would have pictured it. White houses with flat roofs and colorful doors covered the hillsides of this small island. 

Patmos is the place of John's exile. 

And we toured a church that has been built upon or around the cave in which John supposedly received his vision from the Lord. I hesitate to use the word tour because it was actually Sunday morning and there was a service going on at the time, so we quietly took a peek in the back of the sanctuary (no pictures there during worship) and then went back up the many stairs to the top of the rock. 

Our next stop was a monastery atop what seems to be the highest point of Patmos. 

It is formidable! 

Outside of the chapel areas, and the parts of the monastery which the monks use today and which we were not able to visit, was a courtyard with walls covered in frescoes. There were both scenes of Bible stories as well as stories from the centuries following biblical times. 

Lovely flowers and plants also decorated the walkways and that courtyard. 

We wound our way through a museum with old Bibles and an amazing manuscript of Mark from the sixth century, and many other works of art from medieval times.

Not too long after that we were on our boat again, headed for Athens! 

Aren't the houses on Patmos pretty?