Hora Patmos

Hora or Chora, is the capital of the Patmos island and is located about three kilometers from the Skala port just above the promontory overlooking the island.

Just below the walls of the monastery, is called the queen of all the Hora both for the imposing Monastery dedicated to Saint John Evangelist, and for the Byzantine style residences that are unique and considered the most resistant built in the Hellenic land.

Narrow streets and alleys as mazes between white houses, residences and palaces dating back to the 15th century, all built in a row with thick walls higher than the roofs to avoid climbing over them ill intentioned raiders where inside had five doors that they blocked the communicating passages in order to protect the inhabitants.

Nowadays in the Hora you will find a succession of local handicraft souvenir shops (take an icon hand painted by the monks are beautiful), some restaurant with a terrace overlooking the sea and lots of art workshops where you can admire the works of nascent painters or sculptors. In the evening, following the flow of people if you do not know the citadel well, you will come across cute places for an after-dinner drink open until late at night where entertainment is not lacking. The particular thing of the Hora according to us is that maybe you walk completely isolated in the most total silence for a quarter of an hour and then by magic maybe wrong way, we find ourselves in tiny little squares full of people where the nightlife gets together.

One of the most ancient buildings is the Sophouliou palace (1522) built as a self sufficient complex with warehouses where crammed food and large ovens to allow the inhabitants to resist during pirate attacks in times of attempted siege. Another traditional house is Simandiri's home which has now become a museum house.

To reach the Hora, there are various routes, the simplest one with your own vehicle or with the bus that leaves Skala from the dirt road, another very nice one to do (we did it and enjoyed it a lot) , through a track that passes the woods and that leads up to the Cave of the Apocalypse and then up to the town, a bit like a tiny path of Santiago where, immersed in nature, you can feel the fabulous energy that only Patmos can transmit.

Another advise that we allow ourselves to give you is to visit the Hora not exactly in the hottest hours unless you equip yourself with sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat as being completely whitewashed, the reflection of sunlight it is a lot you can. At sunset it is spectacular, perhaps sipping a cool aperitif in one of the rooms overlooking the Aegean. At night, on the other hand, well, try it and then tell us.