history
Moinhos da Gândara is a parish in the municipality of Figueira da Foz, covering 10.74 km² and home to 1,098 inhabitants (2021). It was created in 1997 (Law no. 25/97, of 12 July) by separation from the neighbouring parish of Alhadas, and the parish council is located at Quinta dos Vigários. The name recalls the water and windmills that existed in the area from the early nineteenth century, with which people made their own bread. For centuries, the region was under the influence of the Crúzio friars of the Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra (Monastery of Santa Cruz de Coimbra), who administered the Quinta de Fôja, where they introduced rice cultivation, and collected rent for the use of the land. The land, fertile today, was poor until the 1960s, and many emigrants left from here: first to Brazil, then to Comporta and the Ribatejo, and in the 1960s to France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany. The parish includes settlements such as Arneiro de Sazes, Casal dos Chouriços, Cunhas, Gestinha, Lafrana de Baixo, Lafrana de Cima, Ribas and Azenha da Amieira. The main festival is Nossa Senhora da Saúde, in August; the parish is also home to the Rancho Folclórico «As Morenitas da Gândara» and the Associação Cultural Recreativa e Desportiva da Gândara.
