F-B-F.org -

(From Malpensa, you’ll have a long connecting coach ride.) Dominating this large pedestrianised square is the world’s largest Gothic cathedral and it is from this unforgettable structure that you orient yourself. Expect retaliation by Alitalia (0171-602 1711) from Heathrow and London City.Get your bearingsThe latter two airlines have the edge on Go because they serve the convenient Linate airport (a quick local bus ride) rather than Malpensa, 30 miles out. The No 73 bus shuttles you between Linate airport and the piazza San Babila, from where it’s just a short stroll to the piazza del Duomo at the very heart of the city. This morning’s maiden flight on Go from Stansted to Milan has sparked deep discounts; just as Barcelona came to prominence when EasyJet started flying there, so Milan will surely be the trendiest city break for summer ‘98.
Beam downGo (0845 60 54321) has an introductory rate of pounds 100 return from the Essex airport, an offer matched by KLM uk (0990 074074). Alternatively, you could find a charter to Kos, Mykonos or even Rhodes, all of which are closer to Patmos.. Why go now?

Because for the first time ever, Italy’s most stylish city finds itself at the centre of a fares war. How to get off Patmos? Would I miss the return flight from Athens? I rather hoped I would.

Certainly when the storms finally abated and the small port of Skala came to life again there was a feeling of excitement. But there was also one of profound regret that it was time to leave.To reach Patmos, you could take a scheduled flight to Athens (see sample fares at the foot of page 2), get the bus to the port of Piraeus and take a ferry from there for around pounds 15 each way. Constant flashes of lightning on the horizon lit up the sky and there were ominous rumblings of thunder. These forebodings and boomings seemed only to emphasise the warnings of Revelations of the imminent end of the world and the need to prepare for the life hereafter.Meanwhile, however, it was life in the present that had to be wrestled with. Lambi, for example, renowned for its rare coloured pebbles; or the beautiful bay of Kato Kampos with its tavernas serving fresh fish; or the wilder, isolated spot of St Nicholas Eudelos with its late-11th-century chapel (it is impossible to leave churches and history behind for long).On the day I was there, black clouds were massing.

Parts of both the temple and this early Christian building are incorporated into the present day entrance to the Katholikon (the main monastery church). Its cylindrical frescoed ceiling is supported by short, twisted marble columns.Quite apart from the monastery, this is the place if it’s old churches you want to see There are more then 40 in nearby Chora. Most are locked against those tempted to make off with their small icons but the keys are available on request. Meanwhile, if you’ve had a surfeit of churches you can wander to the part of town where majestic houses with arched windows reveal a short period of Venetian influence.To get away from churches altogether on Patmos, there are tracks to be walked, coves to be explored and villages to visit. Exhibited also is a white marble plaque inscribed in ancient Greek declaring Patmos to be the loveliest island of the pagan goddess Artemis.According to archaeological finds there were once many pagan temples on Patmos, suggesting that it was well populated in antiquity.

On the site of the monastery itself stood a great temple of Artemis. In the fourth century AD it was replaced by a Christian church. Vaulted passageways and narrow stone steps lead to the refectory with its ancient wall paintings, to the kitchen with its beehive ovens, or up to the ramparts for a panoramic view of the island.The monastery’s museum contains a collection of monastic treasures: bejewelled crosses, chalices, rare illuminated manuscripts and Bibles. Through the entrance you pass into an arcaded, cobbled courtyard full of terracotta pots of flowers. Only a few monks and priests were left inside the grotto and I sat alone in the adjoining Chapel of St Anne where I was able to see the ancient frescoes and the icons Incense hung on the air.

Suddenly the small group of ecclesiastics in the grotto lifted up their voices in a short harmonious chant. At last I, too, felt wonder.It is, though, the great Monastery of St John on the hilltop that attracts most visitors. Its buildings look like a cluster of mushrooms on the hillside. Steep steps take the visitor down into the Chapel of St Anne and the grotto itself. There visitors can see the triple fissure in the rock (symbolic of the Trinity, it is said) marking the spot from which the voice of God came.