Morales del vino
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Morales del Vino (Zamora, Spain) is a municipality of the province of Zamora, in the Spanish region of Castilla y León.
[edit] Geography
It is located near the river Duero, 5 km South of Zamora, in the Northern Plateau (700 m above sea level) of the Iberian Peninsula. Other cities that are near Morales del Vino are Salamanca, 56 km to the South, and 100 km to Valladolid. Not too far is Portugal, 60 km.
The landscape is mainly flat, with no hills around. The village is surrounded by a continental cereal, legume and sunflower farm land, with some irrigated areas close to the river where maize, sugarbeets and sunflowers are also cropped. There are not forests around, although some scattered trees in the fields can be found or some other riverside forests are near the Duero.
[edit] Population and social facts
It has a population of about 2400 people at the beginning of 2007, but it has quickly increased recently due to its position close to Zamora, the capital of the province, and the good communication of the N-630 Ruta de la Plata road, that crosses the West of Spain, from Asturias to Andalucía.
There are many new buildings in Morales del Vino due to the new population living there, and there are many new businesses and services in the village nowadays.
The main economic resource of Morales used to be farming, either cattle, sheep, pig or grassland farming. Nowadays, the village is bigger due to the people from Zamora who live in it because of the more tranquil environment, the lower property values, and the commodities available in Morales. There are many people employed now in bars, industry, offices and other services, but even now one finds a beautiful rural landscape around the village.
[edit] History and Monuments
The village was founded in the Middle Ages, when the church was built after the Christians recovered the land from the Moors, who stayed here several centuries, but no ruins are left now of their culture. The church has gothic and Renaissance art style sculpture and building elements; especially noteworthy are the main chapter and the north entrance, with an unusual style for this area.
There is also a little church on the road to Zamora, called El Cristo, where every May the 9th, the people from Morales, Zamora and other surrounding villages celebrate the Morales del Vino main festivity, El Cristo de Morales, a typical "romería" where one may taste very good "sangría", some of the best typical tapas and have a lot of fun in the attractions and in the bars, located in a yard close to the church, where is located the Christ, from the Middle Ages.
To visit Morales del Vino, there are several ways to reach it; the main way is the road N-630 (PK 285), but there is also a nearby train station in Zamora, with routes to Galicia, Madrid and Valladolid. The closest airports are in Valladolid, Salamanca, Bragança and León, but also Madrid is not too far (250 km).
