It is the best-known image of the Portuguese Camino by the Coast: a Cistercian monastery right on the Atlantic, with crenellated walls that look like those of a coastal fortress. Monks lived here for almost 700 years, and its church is now the parish church of Oia.
On the Camino
The Coastal Route passes through Oia at km 17.1 of the Caminha – Porto Mougás stage, beside the monastery and the sea.
Its history
Around 1137 King Alfonso VII was already making donations to the monks, and in 1149 he granted them the lands of Mougás, Viladesuso and Pedornes. In 1185 the monastery adopted the Cistercian reform. In 1624 the monks sank or put to flight five Turkish pirate ships from the parade ground. It earned them the nickname “gunner monks” and the title of Royal and Imperial Monastery, which Philip IV confirmed.