The monastery of Hagios Spyridon (called Terki Dunya in Turkish) is on the southwest coast of the island, perched on the promontory that forms the western horn of the huge crescent-shaped bay known as Çam Limanı (Pine Port). This little monastery began in 1868 as a skete, a simple monastic hut, dedicated to St. Spyridon by a young monk from Thrace known as Arsenios. Subsequently the metropolitan bishop of Cephalonia, Embariki Mazarakis, helped Arsenios build the katholikon and a small dormitory for the monks. The monastery was destroyed in the 1894 earthquake, but then rebuilt to twice its original size. When Father Arsenios died in 1905 he was buried in the garden of his monastery. The monastery was restored in 1954 by Patriarch Athenagoras. It has since been badly damaged by fire and is now falling into ruins.
