Torre de S. Paulo - Ponte de Lima

The Torre de S. Paulo was built in the 14th century as part of the city's defensive walled structure . This wall included 10 towers.

St. Paul's Tower was a lookout tower . It has a quadrangular plan and a terrace on the roof.

On the side facing the river, a tile tableau drawn by Jorge Colaço depicts an imaginary episode of King Afonso Henriques in Cabração (They are goats, Lord!).

According to legend, King Afonso Henriques, while resting with his entourage at the chapel of Nossa Senhora de Azevedo, after a hunt, heard a cloud of dust and a deafening noise in the distance . Thinking that it was the enemy who were about to attack, they prepared themselves for battle, against the dust and the noise, when suddenly their uncle, D. Egas, stopped and turned to the king, saying in a laughing tone: "It's goats, sir!" . And so that area, which was largely inhabited by shepherds and goats, was renamed Cabração.

In the same tower, on the side of the Rua do Postigo, almost at the level of the pavement, there is a Gothic inscription that reads: "Here came the river by risk". It is the precursor of more recent inscriptions: 3 markers with 3 dates. The markers indicate the three greatest river floods in history.

The water rose to the level of the marker. It used to be that the river rose and flooded this entire area of Ponte Lima, but with the construction of the dams the problem was solved. Nowadays the water in the river rises in rainy winters and can even reach the street, but no longer at this level.

willem vandenameele