We
woke up early to get out in time to catch the 9:15 bus to the Chora. We got to the bus station in good time
only to find that the bus didn’t leave until 9:25. The ride up to the Chora
only took about 10 minutes, but it is a 4k road with lots of hairpin bends, so
we are not keen on having to walk any of it. This was the closest we came to rally driving on Patmos.
First
stop is the Monastery of St John.
It is at the very top of the hill village and is quite a walk up, though
not as bad as the Monastery in Amorgos.
The weather is very hot and close.
There is quite a lot of cloud about. That clearly is an indication of the bad weather that is
supposed to be coming in. The
Monastery is a massive stone structure more like a defensive castle than a
church. Inside there is an
interesting museum with all sorts of church relics including ancient
manuscripts, icons and paintings, religious silverware and vestments.
The
church itself is surprisingly small, but highly decorated. All the walls are painted and there are
dozens of silver chandeliers and incense burners. We are not too certain what we are looking at, but it is
impressive.
When
we finish at the Monastery the book suggests we go to a convent on the other
side of the Chora called Zoodochos Pigi.
It takes some time to find the place. When we do, it is basically closed and having some sort of
celebration. But one of the nuns
kindly opens the church for us.
Again, it is tiny but very elaborate with every inch of wall painted on
and lots of silverware. One
amusing thing happened. As we were
looking at the church another man came in to look at it. When we left, the nun came back and
locked the church. It was then
that we realised the man hadn’t come out and was banging on the door. We managed to get the nun to come back
and let him out! He was very
grateful and said this was the second time this happened to him!
The
next thing to see is the cave of the Apocalypse, where St John was supposed to
have had his revelations. The
original plan was to take the bus back down to the cave and then maybe a cab to
the port. But we are much too
early for the next bus. We try to
kill some time having an iced coffee at a café, but we are still too
early. So after speaking to the
lady who runs the café we decide to walk down. There is supposed to be a path, which is much shorter than
the road and should take about 15 minutes to walk down. We manage to find the path and the
cave. Again, we have no idea what
we are looking at, and other than what I have already said, we are none the
wiser. However we do manage to
finish our visit in time to catch the next bus down to the village. So we arrive back at the boat by 12:30.
We
now have to decide what to do. The
weather forecast is getting worse.
The anticipated winds are up to the top of a 5 or bottom of a 6, from
the southeast. The pilot book says
this port is untenable in such a wind, and that means we should move. So we decide we will go this
afternoon. We have a quick lunch,
pick up our laundry and set out just after 1:30pm. Quite a feat for us.
We
are not going far. The aim is to
make it to Lipsi, about 10 miles away.
Lipsi is the island where Calypso kept Odysseus for many years. It is supposed to be a charming place,
but the harbour is small and only has one pontoon for visiting boats. So we are a bit concerned about getting
a place.
For
a change, the wind is not on the nose, but it isn’t very strong. So we put up the genoa and just motor
sail all the way. We are pleased to
see that there are places on the pontoon available, although unfortunately all
the places on the inner part (where it will be more sheltered) are taken and we
have to moor on the outer side of the pontoon. We have a deuce of a time trying to moor. The wind is a cross wind, just strong
enough to push us around. We are
not helped by the man on the boat we are meant to moor next to shouting that we
are snagging his anchor with ours.
This is rubbish because I have barely put the anchor down and can see it
suspended only a few feet down in the sea and not touching anything. In the end, we just wind up in a space
about one boat space away from that complaining boat. It isn’t a great job, but we are safely in.
As
the afternoon goes on we see a lot more boats arrive and they make an even
worse job of mooring on the pontoon than we did. So we don’t feel too bad. By 6 pm the pontoon is nearly full, so we are pleased that
we did come away when we did.
Richard
has paid for us to stay here for three nights. The weather forecast is getting worse, with suggestions that
it will rain for the next three days!
We are a bit worried about how long we can be here before our tank fills
us and we run out of water. There
is water here, but it is not drinkable.
However, if we run out we will just have to fill the tank with it. It will be fine for washing and we will
just use bottled water for making coffee and tea. We only drink bottled water in any event.
So
we have settled in. We went to a
café for a drink and find they have internet. We may be able to pick it up from the boat with the aerial,
but we haven’t tried yet. We have
eaten on board, but expect we will use the local restaurants for part of the
stay. It is a bit rocky on board
but we hope that will quieten down. Richard hopes to take the time to do a few minor repairs. We shall see what the weather does.
it was a wonderful chance to visit this kind of site and I am happy to know. thank you so much for giving us a chance to have this opportunity..
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