Patmos, Greece

Our first island was Patmos, Greece.  One we reached the island, we anchored in the middle of the sea and had to board tenderboats to reach the island. They stuffed these tenderboats full and took us to the pier. From there we ventured around the village and saw what the island had to offer.  One thing I loved about the islands is all the different doors they had. They were all different colors and sizes and were beautiful!

We bought sweets from the bakeries, checked out the wine they offered, shopped around in the different stores they had, and tried to enjoy the quaint life they seem to live.
Once we roamed around the village for a while, we decided to take a taxi to explore the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastery of St. John. Before I go into that let me tell you about the taxi ride.  I wish I would have taken a picture of how winding the roads were, and a picture of the speedometer of the car. In other words, they.drove.crazy!!!! We thought we experienced quiet a different world of driving here in Turkey....this experience was much more different! ha ha You can tell these taxi drivers drive these roads back and forth, up and down, all day long.  Who needs the Indy 500 when you have the roads of Patmos!?
Instead of paying a ridiculous amount for the excursions on the ship, we decided we would get taxis and explore on our own. It was most definately worth it.  We roamed around the Cave of the Apocalypse and stood where it is said that John received his Revelation. That was a rather unique experience. To stand where such a thing took place. It gave me chills to think about what went on in that exact spot.  One of the Priest was giving an explanation about what happened but unfortunately he was not speaking English, so we weren't so sure of what he was saying. 
After we were done with that, we went up to explore the Monastery of St. John.  Unfortunately, we had gotten there right as the place was closing.  We got to see some of the area, but not inside.  Aside from that, we got to see a wonderful panoramic view of Patmos.  This was by far one of my favorite islands. (and even after venturing around 4 others, it is in my top 2!) 

We had a little bit of time before we had to be back at the ship, so we all decided we would have some dinner on the island vs. the ship. We shopped around for souveniors and then chose to eat at a pizza place.  It was agreed that it was some of the best pizza we had eaten since we've been in Turkey. Either we all miss American pizza, a lot, or this place was that delicious!! ha ha