Built in the 17C the fort stretches into the sea and protects a small port from which the boat-trippers leave for Ponta da Piedade. You must cross the drawbridge to reach the interior of the courtyard. Exhibitions are mounted about the Great Discoveries in the rooms. The chapel is decorated with 17C azulejos and from the terrace there are attractive views over the town and the coast.

The excavations undertaken since 1964 have brought to light under the Moorish and Visigothic remains, those of a Roman city including a Patrician villa with a private bath and cellar, a crematorium, wells, grain silos, stables, a wine press and, below, the remains of the public baths. The sea used to come as far as here and these baths were near the port (quay wall). The were used by the sailors who stopped over there.

The port is the hub of tourist activity. The 15m high obelisk erected in the centre of the Praça Dom Francisco Gomes, the wide avenues, the palm trees of Avenida da Républica - especially those in the garden Manual Bivar- give this area, with its modern overtones, a certain charm.

The interior of this church is covered in attractive azulejos from the 17C and has a retable in gilded wood.