The last day on Patmos

John and I got up at 05:30 AM this morning - we had a busy day ahead of us.  First we cleaned up and packed and then by 06:30 we had eaten breakfast and cleared out of the hotel.  We left our big backpack down by the microwave in courtyard, and then hopped on our bikes to head over to the Cave of the Apocalypse.  We arrived there before sunrise and were able to pray Morning Prayer and then attend the Divine Liturgy that was celebrated by an Orthodox Patriarch?, 2 Deacons and about 4 priests. Orthodox Liturgy is very different from Catholic Liturgy, although I was able to recognize the reading of the Gospel, the Creed (Nicene), the Our Father, and the Eucharist.  The Gospel was from Mark - If you want to be my disciple you must pick up your cross and follow me.

The Liturgy and accompanying preparatory prayers went from around 7:30 until about 10:30 AM.  Once that was done we went and explored the town of Chora.  Chora is where the Monastery of St. John the Theologian is located.  It is built up the hill from the cave of the Apocalypse, and sprung up from the Monastery in about 1100 AD.  Chora has many small, winding pathways - some of which they drive cars down (they have very small cars), or Mopeds.  We explored the town and found many winding passages, sometimes with houses built straight over the street, and some of the overhangs were very low - it reminded me a bit of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Only the penitent man shall pass).  

We got ourselves thoroughly lost down some winding side-walks in South Chora - but thanks to a watchful Greek gentleman hanging over his back fence (being entertained by John and I wandering the back streets and pointed the correct way to go.  We made it out of the south side of Chora and rode up to the highest point on the island - where there is a chapel to the prophet Elijah.  From there we could see the entire southern portion of the island.  I don't know if it is a tradition of the Orthodox Church to make the highest mountain chapel to Elijah - but when Mark, Dominic, Christian and I summited Olympus about 5 years ago, we also found a chapel of Elijah.  

After visiting the chapel of the Prophet Elijah we headed to the far south of the island..  Getting there took a 1.5 km hike through the hills to a sandy beach with decent waves.  Here is what the trail looked like.  See if you can find me in the image - I am hiking along the trail

John and I had a swim in the Sea, and then hiked back.  Returning to our bikes, we rode all the way back to Skala across some primitive bike trails.  (John would describe them as rocky hiking trails) - I think that my description is more appealing (although perhaps less accurate).  In Skala we had dinner, turned in our bikes and picked up the big pack and walked out to the dock where we will catch the ferry in 3 hours or so.  We have a cabin so we can sleep and an over-night ferry trip back to Athens so we can head to our next destination - Corinth!