Toro, a village on the mountain

Toro, Zamora

Wikipedia defines our next ancestral village as: Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain. AND IT'S WINE COUNTRY!  Tempranillo, here called Tinto de Toro, has been the primary grape grown in the region since the times of the Christian reconquest

My first view of Toro is etched in my mind as toy blocks stacked into a mountainside.  From the road below, I was mesmerized by the rich, ocher-colored cleft in the hillside.  The high stone building stood in stark relief, standing majestically as it smiled down to those below.  After leaving Fuentesauco, it was a welcome sight to see smiling faces, activity in the streets and welcoming green trees inviting us into the town.  After weaving our way through cobblestone streets, the Colegiata de Santa Maria la Mayor pulled us to her door.  The church was enormous, a beautifully arranged rose garden and courtyard beckoned and a parking spot waited!  Steven and I sat still a moment in wonder, anxious to explore, find answers to questions and a hotel but the church was waiting.  We were delighted to find the doors open; no dove's roost here and no bird poop littered the steps surrounding this wonderful building.

This is the village of the MARZO and TRASCASAS families. Eustoquia Rita Trascasas Marzo met my great-grandfather, Juan Francisco SILVAN Hernandez in Fuentesauco in 1900. Her parents were also born in Toro: Manuel Trascasas Alonso and Manuela Marzo Garcia.  Their parents were also born in Toro:  Santiago Trascasas, Maria Alonso Vega, Gregorio Marzo and Teresa Garcia.  It is such an important village to our family, we stayed three nights because it lured us into becoming part of its charming and enticing ambiance.

Beyond walking the narrow, twisting streets for hours at a time, watching Toro families and friends collide with one another at dusk in the plaza mayor as we sat in outdoor restaurants on the 'boardwalk' and listening to the lovely, deep tolling of the bell in the Torre del Reloj -- we had research to do.

The tourism office gave us a 'plano' which was a street map of Toro, directions to the cemetery and the juzgado (court house) and directed us to the Ayuntamiento for supporting information on our family questions.  Armed with basic information, we learned it was not possible to find grave placement information without exact death dates.  Off to the juzgado (see previous blog regarding that interesting find) and later the cemetery (see photos and story in previous blog also).

We breathed their air, walked their streets, listened to their lilting Castilian Spanish, ate Manchego cheese and IT'S WINE COUNTRY ~ Tempranillo, here called Tinto de Toro, has been the primary grape grown in the region since the times of the Christian reconquest.  We 'taste-tested' several and this Cosecha was our favorite.  And during our street walking adventures, we found those wine barrels had varied uses.

 And then there was the Toro chocolates with almonds.  Muy excellente!  It was not sweet but not bitter.  The chocolate touched our tongues and we just closed our eyes and mmmmmmmmmmmmmm'd.
And I learned biblioteca was a library.  These tiles were the major use of signs everywhere.  Bright, bold, shiny and always clean.  

 The posters shouting their advertisements were pasted to posts in the plaza mayor and we even found beauty there ~  In fact, I brought five posters from Spain that I plan to frame for my gallery room.... a touch of Spain to enjoy every day ---





In my heart, I especially brought a little bit of Toro home with me. It was more than wine, chocolates and a place to gather documents.  I was loathe to leave --- and now back home after receiving the birth document for great grandmother Rita Trascasas Marzo's sister, Jacinta, and their parent's marriage certificate, I continue to learn more about these people who were our family.  With the generous and diligent help of my genealogist friend, Steven A., they have become real, their streets can be found on the Toro map and I remain dazed.  You will learn more about Jacinta Trascasas Marzo soon.