Protected by the imposing Capuchin Convent, the Galapos Beach is a small natural haven where you can spend a beautiful day at the beach, dive or spearfishing.

The sea is calm, tranquility which makes it ideal for swimming.

When crossing the mountain one can´t remain indifferent to the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Need to go through a winding road, the scenery is breathtaking and worth the effort.

The Arrábida is a place to explore leisurely, and simultaneously a very high biodiversity with thousands of different species of terrestrial and marine fauna and flora.

It complements the set of eighteenth-century fortifications, raised in the context of the Restoration war of independence from Portugal, spread to the coast from Setúbal to the Forte de São Domingos da Shuffles, near Cape Espichel.

The foundation of a convent in Arrábida date of the end of 1538-1539, when Bishop John of Lancaster 1st Duke of Aveiro promised to Brother Martin (Martin de Santa Maria Benavides), an Andalusian barefoot friar of the Order of St. Francis, fulfill the his desire to lead a hermit’s life and exclusively dedicated to Our Lady.

The duke gave him the Capuchin Convent, where already was an open chapel for worship in that worshiped the image known as Our Lady of Arrábida. It is then that there comes St. Peter of Alcantara help your relative, the Spanish friar to create the Franciscan Custody Arrábida then subject to the Minister General of the Franciscan convent. Later custody Arrábida was elevated to Arrábida Province and was formally subject, albeit with a high degree of autonomy, the Minister General of the Franciscan Observant. The Franciscans friars, as they were popularly known, began by call itself officially as Discalced Franciscans and later as followed the constitutions drawn up by St. Peter of Acântara, Discalced Franciscans Alcantarines or abbreviated Franciscans Alcantarines.

Jorge de Lencastre, son of the first Duke of Aveiro, continued the works in the Convent of Arrábida and did build a fence to seal the area of the convent. Later, Don Alvaro de Lencastre, his cousin, had built the inn that served as his bed and designed the watchtowers on the crest of the hill, linking the convent to the foot of the mountain, leaving, however, three unfinished. In 1650, Dona Ana Manique de Lara, widow of the Duke of Torres Novas and daughter of Don Alvaro, he built two chapels. In turn, the son of Don Alvaro, D. Anthony of Lancaster, had built the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus.

Please for more information visit Birds of Portugal, Website – avesdeportugal.info

http://www.avesdeportugal.info/sitarrabida.html

The Mua Stone Natural Monument is a natural monument created in 1997 (Decree No. 20/97) 1 in Sesimbra and from 2005 became part of the limits of the Arrábida Natural Park and consisting of tracks with Sauropods footprints.

Only in Portugal and probably in the world, was widely used in local churches and chapels. However the quarry where it was extracted was closed in the 70´s. In the present, is still used by the bodies of Setúbal in inaugural plates.

The Park presents diverse, rocky and sandy bottoms with depths up to 100 meters. With sheltered areas such as various coves at the base of coastal cliffs, to swell zones, as in Espichel. The high animal diversity can be easily observed along the rocks, where there are frequent anemones, the starfish, sea urchins sea and crustaceans. The variability of fish is also amazing, with lesser known species, because they are not fishing target, that make this marine ecosystem of the richest national and European level. Particular emphasis on marine wildlife in Stone Anicha, with the coastal bay to be an important area for the development and maintenance of marine fauna of the North Atlantic. The underwater flora also has considerable ecological importance features.

The Marine Park includes a Total Protection Area 4 km² (10% of the Park area) where it is not allowed any fishing, four Partial Protection areas with a total of 21 km² (40% of the Park area), with restrictions fishing traps and lines, part of the Portinho Arrábida and Figueirinha (about 1.8 km²), and three areas of Supplementary Protection with a total of 28 km² (50% of the Park area) where only licensed vessels can operate .

Is the only point of the Portuguese coast where nests the rare Bonelli’s Eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus)

Among the mammals include the fox (Vulpes vulpes), the weasel (Mustela nivalis), the toirão (Mustela putorius), the genet (Genetta genetta), wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), badger (Meles meles) and the likely occurrence of wildcat (Felis silvestris), the weasel and the weasel (Martes foina). The caves, especially the cliffs have associated a very particular fauna of bats: Bat-of-Teddy (Miniopterus schreibersii) bat of horseshoe-Mediterranean (Rhinolophus euryale) bat of horseshoe-large (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and bat -of horseshoe Moorish (Rhinolophus meherlyi).

Among the birds stand out Bonelli’s eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus) – with the only couple nest in the Portuguese coast, the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), the eagle owl (Bubo bubo), the screech owl (Tyto alba), the swift-real (Apus melba), the blackbird, blue (Monticola solitarius) and the black redstart-(Phoenicurus ochrurus), the nightingale (Luscinia mergarhynchos), the robin and the wren (troglodytes troglodytes), Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), the hoopoe (Upupa epops), the common-partridge, lark-Tit (Galerida cristata), the nighthawk to-neck-red (Caprimulgus ruficollis) and the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), the woodpecker spotted-large (Dendrocopus major), the tits (Parus spp.), the common-creeper (Certhia brachydactila), and the common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).

Amphibians and reptiles, the lizard, the snake-legged pentadáctila (Chalcides bedriagai), the snake-of-ladder (Elaphe scalaris), the snake-Ratter (Malpolon monspessulanus), the Horned Viper and the snake-in -ferradura (Coluber hippocrepis). Water resources provide shelter to the turtle (Mauremys leprous) and her water snakes (Natrix spp.).

Among the thousands of species of invertebrates is included one of the few Portuguese animal species classified as Endangered Extinction of Critical by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – the cave spider Frade – Anapistula ataecina.

The fauna is diverse, although it has undergone major changes since the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century it was still possible to see wolves, wild boar and deer. The current fauna are part of, among others, the wildcat (Felis silvestris), the fox (Vulpes vulpes), the hare (Lepus capensis), the bat, the eagle of Bonelli (Hieraetus fasciatus) the eagle owl (Bubo bubo) the partridge (Alectoriz rufus) and the actual swift (Apus melba). In 2004, as already happened, a fire destroyed a significant part of the Park, which is slowly recovering.