There was an optional excursion we could have signed up for, but we figured why pay the big bucks when we could just walk up the hill for free. It took about an hour to walk to the monastery. We were all pretty much spread out & going at our own speed. I stopped to take lots of pictures, so I was by myself a good share of the time. It was beautiful walking up, passing all the little houses & Greek countryside. We passed a couple of little shrines along the road. Later on in the trip, we learned that the shrines are put up by family when a loved one dies near the place. The shrine is then maintained by the family.
This little hedge hog wasn't so lucky either
About half way up the hill, Megan, one of the girls in the group was starting to have a hard time walking because of an old knee injury. So a taxi was flagged down. (Taxi's were constantly passing us going up & down the hill) Three others from our group volunteered to ride up in the taxi with Megan and split the cost with her (20 euro). The taxi took them up to the monastery then picked them up later and took them back down to the bottom of the hill.
St. John's Monestery was named after St. John (Apostle of Jesus) who came to Patmos in the 1st century A.D., after his exile from Ephesus. The chapel was very ornate with lots of gold leaf. It was also very small.
The courtyard
We also walked through a kitchen area and saw a couple of brick ovens and a big hollowed out log with a sign that said it had been used as a bread trough.
I love this picture. These monks were sitting there as we came out of the Monestery. We took lots of pictures, pretending like we were taking pictures of the scenery.
Pictures from the walk back down the hill:
There's our ship waiting for us to return
I couldn't get enough of the blue water:
We walked past a house, and this was growing next to the fence. The blossom was HUGE, about 5 inches across. I later realized it was an artichoke plant.
Back to the ship - our next disembark is Kusadasi a picturesque Turkish village that lies on the Aegean coast. From there we take an excursion to Ephesus.
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6 comments:
Oooh, I am loving this. Poor hedge hog. You have beautiful pictures!
Awesome photos! Loved the blood-free hedgehog.
I couldn't stop thinking though: 28 bucks for a taxi ride a mile up the hill? That's STEEP! (and I'm not talking about the hill!)
20 euro's for the taxi ride was highway robbery. Especially when you consider that the ride was about 4 miles total. I was just glad that there were others willing to take the ride with her. (I think they were glad to have an excuse not to have to walk the rest of the way. It was quite a hike- uphill all the way.
Cool pics of the Monks, also your 'boat' is huge, when compared to the small part of town it is parked by.
Poor hedge hog!
I would not even have attempted that hill, but your pictures are wonderful!
I didn't know artichokes bloomed, very pretty.
I think my favorite picture was the beautiful pots with flowers growing around and out of them and the monk picture. Beautiful.
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