South Gate and Postern

This section of wall and gate was rebuilt in the late 1960s by Fernando de Almeida, at the place where a Roman gate was supposed to have existed, known as Ponsul Gate or South Gate. However, later archaeological excavations in the area showed that the gate did not exist during the Late Roman period. Before that, there was a postern through which only pedestrians passed. From this point, a sidewalk leads to the river, where the passage is made across stepstones constructed by reusing Roman masonry. Recent archaeological work has identified another door 150 m further on, on the southern border of the late Roman wall, shedding new light on the city's urbanism. By crossing the Pônsul using the stepstones, you come across a diving fountain called the “Arch”, or El-Rei, which in the 17^th and 18^th centuries supplied the village with drinking water. Built in granite, it has a perfectly rounded arch opening, where a shield with the royal weapons was embedded.