Patmos

What a neat little island! So much more relaxing then anywhere else we have been. There were no "call-outs" of restaurant owners trying to get you into their place and we actually ate at places where locals were.. imagine that. So our time in Patmos has been filled with quad-ing, playing backgammon, swimming, burning, and just chilling out. We called ahead when we were in Kos and had a pension owner named Theo come and pick us up at the ferry. He was a small round man with a generous and hospitable manner.. you couldn't help but smile when he talked to you! Him and his wife owned the pension and a souviner shop and a motobike rental shop.. busy ppl.. most of the time we had to go into their sovernir shop to speak to them about staying an extra night, etc. It was funny, we were only planning on staying one night there, and then splurging a bit and staying at this upper class hotel in which their slogan was "Just what you need after those many months of wedding planning" (no joke)- but after getting baked goods and honeydew melon from Theo and his wife (they kept knocking at our door and giving us goodies!), we decided to stay- and after all it was only 30 euro's/night, but when Theo heard we wanted to stay another night he lowered the price to 25 a night! deal!
The town we were staying at, Skala, only had about 2 bars and a handful of restaurants, so after we checked our bags at Yvonne's studios, exploring the town took about oh 5 min., but we ate at one of the restaurants, stuffed ourselves with pasta for only 3 euro's each and of course had to have our Greek salad- Josh and I have a love/hate relationship with the Greek salad.. you get so sick of it, yet something about it is so addicting.. i think we have ordered it at every meal.. maybe when we get back to Van we will miss it??
We spent yesterday on a quad flying from one side of the island to the other. we uncovered some amazing little beaches, explored the cave of the apocolypse, the monastery (where i got yelled at for having bare shoulders!), and ended up eating dinner at an isolated pebble beach where we were the only customers for a long time. I drove the quad a lot of the time and ended up getting the thumbs up sign from a local.. he must have appreciated that Josh was on the back! hehe. We couldn't rent scooters because we don't have any experience, and they literally will not rent them to you if you don't know how to drive them.. so we were disappointed but figured it's proabbly best that way. No one wants to be going to a hospital when your traveliing.. i know from experience (bring back memories Ian??).
So like most nights in Greece, we ended up buying a bottle of wine and sitting on our patio, just chatting and enjoying the hot summer night.

Today we went back to one of the little beaches we found from the previous day, trekked down a path, got pretty friendly with some goats, and joined the 2 other couples that were on that beach- one of the them was au natural, and maybe it is supposed to be that way? we swam for a while, bathing suits on- not that brave.. :) , and enjoyed the crystal clear water before heading back to the hotel to check out and head to the ferry.
So in about 30 min. we will head to Samos where will be spend about 3 nights before heading to Turkey. Samos is the last of the islands we will visit in Greece, yet even tho we are sad to know the greek part of our trip is ending, we are excited to see what Turkey is all about. I am pretty sure i will have to buy a shawl to cover my shoulders if i want to go into any mosques.. i am stoked about the bazaars.. i haven't bought anything in Greece.. it's soo expensive.. so i am warning Josh that i may go a bit nutty in Turkey.. i think he is prepared.. and even tho he may not admit it, i know he is stoked to shop too!

We will upload more pics in Samos, i hope you are all enjoying them :) Thanks to everyone who has emailed us :) we like hearing about whats going on back home!

oh and a big shout out to damien and sara, as their one month countdown, as of yesterday, begins till their wedding!! We can't wait!! but alas, i do not envy you guys! hehe..

take care!