Stripped of decoration in the 1520s during the Reformation, it retains an austere serenity, lifted by Augusto Giacometti's dazzlingly colourful windows.
The accommodation is chic – colourful painted window frames and woven throws are set against brilliant white walls – much of the food is grown on the island, and the yoga is led by professional instructors.
artigianopdx.com Foodie author Karen Brooks says: "Only Portland can offer you pakora-fried chicken wrapped in a dosa and served from a colourful food cart window.
The front has colourful stained-glass windows and a stone floor, which gives it an appropriately medieval feel.
Circles figure prominently, too, from an image of the formation of the galaxy, to the space between the tops of trees, to a whirling set of colourful stained-glass windows like a snail's shell, via sunflowers, the sun (three times), and the bodies of unspecified sea creatures.
Diners sit in a spacious, colourful cafe with huge windows looking out across Table Mountain.
They painted the bleak metal grilles on the vacant houses – adorning their doors and windows with colourful curtains and flowers – launched the market, and won a Britain in Bloom contest.
It looked like something from a storybook, complete with dormer windows and lush, colourful garden.
