La Fonteta

La Fonteta was a Phoenician port city that occupied the mouth of the Segura River between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Excavations led by the University of Alicante since 1996 uncovered a fortified wall with bastions, streets and rows of houses, making this one of the best-preserved Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean. The site sits inside the Guardamar dunes park, close to the Rábita Califal, which occupied the same stretch of coast centuries later.

History

The city spread across several hectares and worked as an entry port for Phoenician trade routes reaching into the interior of the peninsula. Archaeologists have documented iron-smelting workshops, Phoenician and archaic Greek pottery, and luxury goods such as ostrich eggs and ivory figures, confirming La Fonteta's role as a major trading post on the Mediterranean coast. The settlement was abandoned around the middle of the 6th century BC, and the sand that gradually covered it ended up protecting its structures until the site was rediscovered.

What to see

A visit takes in the remains of the defensive system and some of the excavated houses, with panels explaining daily life at the settlement. Much of the city is still buried under the dunes, so the visit is rounded out by the original finds — pottery, metalworking remains and ritual objects — on display at the town's archaeological museum. The route forms part of a guided walk that links La Fonteta with the castle and the Rábita Califal across the dune park, so it is worth allowing enough time for the combined visit.

The sandy ground along the route makes comfortable footwear more important than on a typical urban site, and early morning or late afternoon are the easiest times to visit in summer. It is worth checking in the town about guided tours, the best way to make sense of a site where much of what matters lies beneath the surface.