Kos Town the island capital is a colourful town with a bustling port, huge palm trees lining its avenues, Hellenistic and Roman remains scattered next to modern everyday places and domed mosques and minarets rising into the sky. Overlooking the harbour stand the imposing battlements of the Castle of the Knights of St John and nearby is the old plane tree of Hippocrates, propped up with modern implements, where Hippocrates is supposed to have taught medicine to his pupils. The Greek Hippocrates was born on the island of Kos in 460 B.C. and was the first to depart from supernatural and magic approaches to illnesses to methods based on scientific diagnosis and therapy of disease. He taught all aspiring doctors and physicians under the shade of a plane tree somewhere on the island and was responsible for "The Hippocratic Oath"; a statement of ideals to which all followers of his methods should practise. The doctors' famous Hippocratic Oath includes to cure rather than harm and to observe professional confidentiality and is still sworn by medical practitioners around the world today. There is a statue of Hippocrates and mosaic of him in the town’s Archaeological Museum. Also in Kos Town magnificently situated above the sea is the Asklepieion, founded after Hippocrates death as a medical school and dedicated to Asklepeios, the god of healing. The site of the Asklepieion is stunningly beautiful set on three terraces of a hillside amongst pine and cypress trees near natural springs with panoramic views towards the Turkish coast. Snakes were the cult’s symbol as snakes were used to hunt out healing herbs and snakes have remained a worldwide emblem for medicine ever since. A picturesque avenue of cypress trees leads to the well preserved ruins of the Odeon, an Ancient Roman Amphitheatre with rows of marble benches and in the same vicinity is the Pompeian style Roman villa, the "Casa Romana" with its shady courtyards and beautiful mosaics of dolphins, lions and leopards. A few metres beyond the Casa Romana are the ruins of the ancient temple and altar of Dionysus. Also worth seeing are the re-erected columns and excavations of the Ancient Gymnasium Xystos. The modern Kos Town consists of pleasant cafes, bars, shops and restaurants with tourists peddling on bikes down its tree shaded streets and is fun to visit by night as well as by day. The medieval castle overlooks and guards the harbour and was built by the Knights of the Order of St John on the foundations of an ancient castle and is reached by a bridge over its former moat surrounded by spectacular palm trees. The whole structure looks like something out of an Indiana Jones film with its seemingly impenetrable towers, battlements, bastions and strange inscriptions and symbols of the Knights. Within the castle are the remains of ancient temples and pieces strewn amongst the greenery and grounds and from certain vantage points you can enjoy wonderful views of the harbour and approaching boats. The harbour itself is packed with excursion and fishing boats and has a separate ferry and catamaran dock, hydrofoil jetty and marina for yachts. At night the harbourside becomes a mass of promenading people strolling around and enjoying the atmosphere. The nearest beach to Kos Town is Tingaki suitable for windsurfing and water sports with a stretch of fine sand and tavernas but one of the largest and most popular holiday resorts on the island is Kardamena in the south. Kardamena was once a quiet fishing village but has now expanded into a mass market tourist resort with bars, clubs, music, hotels and restaurants ranging from fast food outlets upwards and all the other amenities for those who wish to sunbathe, drink and party heavily. It appeals to the kind of visitor who doesn’t mind packed beaches, loud music and crowds. Kamari another resort on the southern coast has some beautiful beaches with white sands including "Paradise Beach" while the Asfendhiou mountain villages make for popular excursions where tourists go to see traditional Greek villages and for typical "Greek Nights". Kos with its international airport, is an excellent base from which to explore the other more inaccessible islands of the Dodecanese group and from Kos Town during the summer there are regular boat excursions to most of the other islands including the northernmost holy island of Patmos. Patmos is a place of pilgrimage for many Christians as this is where St John the Theologian composed the last book of the New Testament; the Book of Revelation. Visitors arrive at the island’s port Skala and make their way up a hill to the Holy Grotto and the Monastery of St John. St John was exiled to Patmos by the Romans and it was here in a cave that he received his apocalyptic vision. The Monastery of St John, which dominates and crowns the entire island on the summit of a hill, was founded in 1088 by a monk in honour of St John and stands like an old fashioned grey castle with turrets and towers above the little white washed houses of the village. The monastery itself has an exquisite main courtyard laid with pebbles and decorated with arches while there are beautiful wall frescoes, wall paintings, icons and fascinating archives and religious treasures all over the monastery. You can also visit the mysterious cave where St John is said to have had his revelation which for many visitors has a spiritual atmosphere. There’s a lot more to Kos than beaches and mass produced package holidays in the sun; Kos has the remains of all the different civilizations on its shores from Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Turkish and Italian to the modern day and is well worth visiting.