Today we woke up exceptionally early, at 7:30, just as the wash of waves from Lisa's ferry rocked the boat. Once aboard, Lisa joined us for a walk around the town. We went on the top of a nearby hill where we found--surprise, surprise--a church! Then we bought some bread (fresh from the oven, yum!) and paid for moorage at the harbour, which was €11 for the night.
The Fournoi main harbour.
We set sail at about noon and got blessed with very good back wind. We ended up sailing for most of the journey with just a jib leaving our two masts sail-less. The wind was strong enough for us to be speeding with just one sail anyway! Towards the end of the trip the wind weakened some, so we decided to balance the jib with a mizen sail. As we zigzagged our way into the bay by the Chora on Patmos, we were greeted by the imposing old monastery on the top of the hill. What a sight it must have been through the medieval times!
The first thing we wanted to do once we we moored was to see the monastery, but it was too late already--we had to wait till tomorrow morning. So instead we walked around the harbour town of Skala. It was nothing special, just the usual beach restaurants and bars with a street or two filled with merchants. We sighted a church on the top of rock nearby and walked towards it.
On the way back from the church I noticed a restaurant that had an old cash counter machine on display. It was made in Dayton, Ohio and my American heart bolted joyfully at the sight! Despite its american origins, all the keys had labels in what seemed to be a Nordic language. In the evening I worked on a project for a professor at Mac--I had to translate some early 20th century diary entries of a Czech enclave in Serbia. After a night walk around Skala we were ready to hit the sack--tomorrow it's monastery time.
Here's also a view of the Patmos harbour over the rooftops. Note the black tanks in the lower right corner--virtually every house in Greece has one (or three by the looks of it). Go green energy!
Greek cats at the height of their activity
Two fine bikes in one snap