Like Saint Brendan, Amaro is said to have travelled on a journey that echoes that of the Irish immram – the voyages to the paradisiacal islands of the West.

[2] His legend holds that Amaro was a noble Catholic from Asia who was obsessed with the idea of visiting the earthly paradise.

Amaro was not successful in receiving information from them and was quite desperate and anguished about this until one night, God appeared to him and revealed how to reach his objective.

Amaro remained there for three weeks until an old woman advised that he leave the island before he became accustomed to the good life.

There they found a hermit who informed them that the beasts there annihilated themselves by fighting one another on the day of Saint John; the stench of the corpses persisted throughout the year.

A monk from this monastery, Leonites, greeted them and told Amaro that he was waiting for him: he was already informed of their arrival by means of a vision.

First, however, Amaro stumbled upon a nunnery situated high upon a mountaintop called Flor de Dueñas (Flower of Ladies).

In Paradise, Amaro found an enormous castle built from gems and precious metals, with battlements of gold and towers of rubies, walls made with multicolored bricks.

Amaro was allowed to do this, and saw many things, including the tree of life from which Adam ate; a primeval and eternal garden; enormous trees; birds whose song was so beautiful one could remain entranced by it for a thousand years; young musicians playing strange and unknown musical instruments; beautiful ladies adorned with a crown of flowers and dressed in white; the Virgin Mary, who accompanied these young ladies.

Amaro told the city's inhabitants his story and they built him a house alongside the monastery of Valdeflores, where he lived for a number of years until he died.

In the districts of Coimbra and Viseu, Saint Amaro is brought pinecones, nuts, and dry figs as an ex-voto offering — but he only accepts these items if they have been stolen.