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Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz

Freguesias of Vila Franca de Xira
Alhandra Portugal 02
Alhandra Portugal 02

Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz is a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Alhandra, São João dos Montes and Calhandriz. The population in 2011 was 12,866, in an area of 27.54 km².Famous Portuguese explorer Afonso de Albuquerque was born in Alhandra.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz
Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz

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N 38.927 ° E -9.009 °
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2600-535 Alhandra, São João dos Montes e Calhandriz
Portugal
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Alhandra Portugal 02
Alhandra Portugal 02
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Vila Franca de Xira Bullring
Vila Franca de Xira Bullring

The Vila Franca de Xira Bullring, also known as the Palha Blanco Bullring (Portuguese: Praça de Touros Palha Blanco) is situated in the centre of the town of Vila Franca de Xira in the municipality of the same name in the Lisbon District of Portugal. It was built in 1901, is still used and is one of the eight “First Category” bullrings in the country.In 1937 the bullring was named after José Pereira Palha Blanco, a cattle raiser, who organised a group of benefactors to form a joint-stock company to fund the building. Prior to its construction there had been three other bullrings on the same site, all constructed out of wood. The first was unsuitable because it lacked the traditional round shape, the second proved inadequate, and the third burned down. The inaugural bullfights in the new ring were held on September 30, 1901 and the bullring achieved prominence in 1905 when King Carlos attended.In addition to bullfighting the ring has hosted performances by artists such as the Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues. It has also been used for boxing events, carnival parades, contests between bands and as an open-air cinema, as well as for charitable events. During the rule of the totalitarian Estado Novo it was used for parades by the Mocidade Portuguesa, a right-wing youth organisation. During World War II it was used by cavalry mobilised for the war.Bullfighters to fight at the ring have included Domingo Ortega, Conchita Cintrón and Carlos Arruza, as well as Álvaro Domecq y Díez who is credited with reviving bullfighting on horseback. The ring is one of the few in Portugal to not witness the death of a bullfighter. It has hosted several contests resulting in the death of the bull, despite this being illegal in Portugal, and the bullfighters were arrested.There are plans to build a Portuguese bullfighting museum in the Palha Blanco. At the same time there remains opposition to the sport, which in April 2017 resulted in some vandalism of the stadium, primarily through the use of graffiti.

Vila Franca de Xira
Vila Franca de Xira

Vila Franca de Xira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvilɐ ˈfɾɐ̃kɐ ðɨ ˈʃiɾɐ] ) is a city and municipality in the Lisbon District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 137,659, in an area of 318.19 km2.Situated on both banks of the Tagus River, 32 km north-east of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, settlement in the area dates back to neolithic times, as evidenced by findings in the Cave of Pedra Furada. Vila Franca de Xira is said to have been founded by French followers of Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, around 1200. The town is mostly famous for its bull-running festivals in July and October. Bulls are raised in the salty marshlands of the Ribatejo, which is also a notable breeding ground for the Lusitano horse, esteemed for its quick reflexes and maneuverability. A number of brightly coloured Portuguese bullfighting costumes are on display in the ethnographic museum in the town's bullring, the Praça de Toiros (or Touros) Palha Blanco. Notably, the town was the stage for the eponymous Vilafrancada in May of 1823. The Vilafrancada was an insurrection led by prince Miguel I of Portugal, son of King John VI of Portugal, which sought to reestablish an absolutist monarchy in Portugal. This came in response to the Portuguese Constitution of 1822 - the Kingdom's first constitution - which turned Portugal from an absolutist monarchy to a parlamentarian monarchy. The Vilafrancada can be seen as a prelude to the Portuguese Civil War of 1828-34. In 1951, the town benefited from the completion of the Marechal Carmona Bridge. Located almost equidistantly between Lisbon and Santarém, The town provided an ideal place for a road bridge. The bridge was the first to cross the Tagus in the Lisbon region, and remained its only crossing until the inauguration of the 25 de Abril Bridge fifteen years later. As a result, Vilafranca experienced greater traffic and commercial opportunities during this period. Nearby, the town's Misericórdia church features striking 18th-century azulejos (glazed tiles). The town also has a Museum of Neo-Realism.Three km south of Vila Franca de Xira lies the Lezíria Grande Equestrian Centre, where visitors can watch stylish displays of the impressive Lusitano horses. The centre also stages typical bullfighting spectacles in its outdoor bullring. Visitors can ride Lusitano horses and take dressage lessons at the Quinta de São Sebastião, a sprawling estate at Arruda dos Vinhos, 11 km west of Vila Franca de Xira. The municipality contains several forts built during the Peninsular War and forming part of the Lines of Torres Vedras. These include the Fort of Subserra on the first line of defence and the Forts of Serra da Aguieira and the Fort of Casa on the second line. Another place of interest, on the left bank, is the Hermitage of Nossa Senhora de Alcamé, which was built so that farmers on the Tagus floodplain would both have somewhere to pray and also somewhere of safety during floods. An annual pilgrimage is held to the hermitage with participants going by boat from the town of Vila Franca de Xira on the right bank. The current Mayor is Fernando Paulo Ferreira, elected in 2021 as a member of the Socialist Party.

Cave of Pedra Furada
Cave of Pedra Furada

The Cave of Pedra Furada is a small cave located in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, about 20 km north of Lisbon in Portugal. Archaeological studies conducted within the cave suggest it was occupied intermittently by humans during at least three periods between the end of the fourth millennium BC and the second millennium BC. The cave results from karstification of the limestone Upper Jurassic Massif. The first formal archaeological excavation was carried out in 1955 by a team led by Hipólito Cabaço. This identified a communal funeral space, and radiocarbon dating of one individual's bones indicates that the use of the cave as a necropolis dates back to between 3095 BC and 2915 BC. However, it is plausible the cave may have been used as a mortuary in later periods, as around 1200 bone and tooth fragments of a minimum of 34 individuals of both sexes have been identified. Archaeologists also collected a number of objects, such as bone drills, beads of various materials, flint arrowheads, microliths, a polished stone axe, fragments of pottery and a bone figurine of a rabbit. Most of the items collected are now held in the Municipal Museum of Vila Franca de Xira and have been subjected to further analysis by Silva et al. The arrowheads are of a type consistent with those in use during the period when the cave is thought to have been first occupied while the pottery appears consistent with that in use elsewhere during the beaker culture.