M/Y Maria: Patmos

The Apocalypse island

Full day cruise to Patmos approximately 200 NM, 9h15 engine hours, Departure time 6am, Return 9pm

Our journey will begin from the port; on our way to Patmos we will admire from the sea the Monastery of Virgin Hozoviotissa hanging from the cliffs of Amorgos. We will swim at Petra beach with the strange geological formation the Monolith Kalikatsou. In less than a kilometer away is the Lake Petra, an important biotope of rare species of birds. Our next stop is Scala, the port, for visiting the medieval Patmos town Hora, St. John’s monastery and the cave where he wrote the Apocalypse (Revelation). Lunch at one of the multiple tavernas. On our way back we will have a final stop for swimming at a gorgeous formation natural pool lagoon at the deserted island of Makronissi.

Beaches √ Scuba X Antiquities X Religion √ Speleo X Natural wonders √ Walk √ Traditional settlements √

Petra - Kalikatsou

is a region of unique beauty. It was named after the famous stone of Kalikatsou, this peculiar and imposing stone that seems to come out of the sea. This is the stone where many excercitants have chosen to live and managed to make it a relatively capacious space of living, carving stairs on it, a pond, places for charcoals and candles leaving their traces for ever.

Monastery of Saint John

It overhangs the whole island as it is built on the top of the hill right across the island’s port, Skala. Around it is the medieval settlement of Chora. Inside the monastery’s walls you will see the byzantine church of Saint John, which is decorated with important murals from different periods of time. Highly impressive is the wooden chancel screen in the church. Among the Byzantine icons distinguishes that of Saint John Theologos, donated by emperor Alexios A’ as and the icon of Saint Nikolaos with Tesseras. The church’s Chancel table is made by a stone from the ancient temple of god Artemis. In the Monastery’s Museum among the precious exhibits are the crown of emperor Alexios A’ and the mitre of the ecumenical patriarch Neophytes the 6th made by 3k. of gold bejeweled with precious stones. Very important is the monastery’s library. It has over 2000 tomes of old editions and 13.000 copyrights of various documents. It also has 900 manuscripts from which 325 are written in scrolls.

The cave of Revelation (Apocalypse)

This sacred grotto is believed to mark the spot where St. John received his visions from Christ that he recorded in the Book of Revelation. "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet..." (Revelation 1:9-10)
St. John the Theologian, commonly identified with the Apostle John, was exiled on Patmos around 95 AD and received revelations from God by means of a voice from a cleft in the rock. The cave entrance is marked with a mosaic portraying the visions of John and inside the small grotto, you can see the nightly resting place of John's head, fenced off and outlined in beaten silver.