Skala Patmos

The boats land their passengers at Skala (the harbour), in a bay on the east side of the island. In the old days there was little more than a collection of vaulted warehouses (now converted into cafes and shops) around the port of Patmos as workers and merchants retreated to the safety of the upper town.
 Skala is a pleasant port with simple white houses and the principal town of the island always bustling with activity. Along the quay, the Venetian arcaded building with a corner tower houses the harbour master’s office, the customs, the police, an information office and the post office. Nearby are the taxi and bus stations and the local boats which offer excursions to the beaches on Patmos and neighbouring islets and to Leros, Kalymnos and Kos. Many cruise ships docking in Skala during the summer season.
The boats land their passengers at Skala (the harbour), in a bay on the east side of the island. In the old days there was little more than a collection of vaulted warehouses (now converted into cafes and shops) around the port of Patmos as workers and merchants retreated to the safety of the upper town.
Nowadays Skala is a pleasant port with simple white houses and the principal town of the island always bustling with activity. Along the quay, the Venetian arcaded building with a corner tower houses the harbour master’s office, the customs, the police, an information office and the post office. Nearby are the taxi and bus stations and the local boats which offer excursions to the beaches on Patmos and neighbouring islets and to Leros, Kalymnos and Kos. Most hotels in Patmos are in Skala, unlike the Leros hotels that are in many areas of the neighbouring island or the huge hotels in Kos. From Skala you can get the Greek Ferries that go to the Dodecanese islands, after Patmos they go to Leros, Kalymnos, kos and Rhodes.

The History of Patmos

Patmos Located in the Dodecanese islands, It is the most northern island of the Archipelago and is very near to Leros and Lipsi. The island of Patmos is seldom mentioned by the ancient authors into their books. It is to be supposed that its prehistoric inhabitants were the Carians. The name Patmos, as it is generally believed derives from the word Latmos, which is the name of a mountain of Caria, a country situated across the island in Asia Minor where the goddess Diane (Artemis), was particularly adored.
Patmos was at times colonized by the Dorians and thereafter followed the Ionians. It is said that the mythology hero Oreste pursued by the Furies, because he killed his mother Clytemnestra, took shelter in Patmos, coming with the Argiens.
The walls of the 6th and 4th centuries BC, of the ancient Acropole situated over the hill Castelli, are evidencing the location of the ancient town. From the well preserved until now relics, it is to be supposed that into the Acropolis ground existed at times the Apollon Temple, the Bacchus Temple and the Hippodrome. Old cemeteries, pottery fragments, carved works in bas-reliefs, inscriptions, sepulchral stones and other dispersed or framed into walls sculptures of the Christian orthodox churches, all said evidences are a proof of the flourishing and prosperous stand of the ancient Patmos.
At the former ancient age it was particularly adored in Patmos the goddess Diana, who was considered as the Patroness of the island. Under the domination of the Romans, the island failed to decline. It was abandoned and used as an exile place.