Monastery of St. Dionysios

The Strofades are a pair of small, rocky islands some 44 kilometres south-southeast of Zakynthos, thinly vegetated and notable for their birdlife, which is why hunting there is banned. The smaller is Arpia; the larger, Stamfani, carries a castle-monastery raised in the 13th century by Theodoros I Laskaris, emperor of Nicaea. Its most celebrated resident was Saint Dionysios, patron of Zakynthos and a leading post-Byzantine holy figure, who lived there from 1568. He was buried on Strofades until 1717, when Turkish pirates sacked the monastery and his body was moved to Zakynthos for safety. The structure survives in good condition, a reminder of the islands' long monastic and defensive role, though its most sacred relic has long since departed.