Patmos island is part of the group of Greek Islands known as the Dodecanese. Our holiday base was on the neighbouring, and much larger, island of Samos where we had hopped on a boat to take us across the ten miles or so of the Aegean sea that separates the two islands. A one day visit was all we needed to know that Patmos island was our kind of holiday destination.
We stood in a candle lit cave, our usually sceptical, rational selves already feeling vaguely challenged by the possibility that supernatural phenomena might, after all, exist. The darkness and coolness was a stark contrast to the dazzling brightness and heat of the midday sun we had left to descend into this underworld of prophecies and priests.
The silence of the grotto was suddenly interrupted by a heavily accented voice, speaking in English. “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.”
Half expecting a beast with 666 stamped on its forehead, we turned to see a bearded man, dressed in the priesthood robes of Greek orthodoxy. He was not looking in our direction and at first it seemed that the biblical quotation had been a soliloquy. But the puzzle of why a Greek would talk to himself in English was solved seconds later, when the first of a party of Americans came into view. As soon as they began to fill the limited space of the cave, we recognised them as being a group of “Christian Tourists” we had seen earlier that day. The spell had been broken; the cave had lost its supernatural feeling, replaced by something as mundane as an evangelical meeting. It was time for us to go back up to the world of dazzling sunlight. more…
Exploring the Beaches of Lanzarote The long cold winter, combined with the credit crunch, has made the last few months drag on interminably. But one of the more positive things to come out of this economic crisis has been even cheaper holidays. This is especially true in Lanzarote, where package holidays have long been offered at very affordable prices. More recently, a greater number of low cost airlines have started flying to this Canary Island, making it less expensive for holidaymakers who like to tailor their own