From the Archives: The Mystical Greek Island of Patmos

“Patmos,” by Hamish Bowles, was originally published in the July 2011 issue of Vogue.

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The volcanic island of Patmos, mystic setting for Saint John's apocalyptic vision, seemed to the writer Lawrence Durrell “more an idea than a place, more a symbol than an island.” But its powerful reality casts a spell the moment it hoves into view from a boat's deck (there is no airport), its tiny white houses scattered like snowdrops across the hillsides, a mysterious citadel crowning the hilltop village of Chora. Its true immensity is concealed in the mineral depths of the Dodecanese waters, depths suggested by the inhumanly scaled cruise ships that discharge their ruby-burned cargo onto the wharf of the port