Archidona

Ever since day 1 in Antequera, no matter where we are, we have seen a huge limestone mountain (880 m high) that has a peculiar shape – it looks like the head of an Indian lying down and looking up to the sky. Because of this, it is known as “The Indian of Antequera”.

It has a more common name though - the Peña de los Enamorados or Lover’s Rock.

There seem to be several legends about it. Here’s one -

It is said that during the Conquest times a Castillian soldier, whose name was Tello, was caught by the Nasrid kingdom and put into Antequera’s prison. The daughter of the Muslim king, called Tazgona, visited the Christian soldier and they quickly fell in love.

They finally escaped from the town and when the Muslim king found out what they had done, he sent a troop to recuperate his daughter. At the same time, the army from Castilla was coming to prepare a siege on Antequera.

The lovers saw no way to be free, so they committed suicide throwing themselves from the craggy top of the rock. Since then, the rock has been called Peña de los Enamorados (Lovers’ Rock). I guess we would have called it Lovers’ Leap.

At the peak of the rock there is supposed to be a stone statue of a young woman and a man embracing and leaning towards the ravine. It is said that when the sun sets the rock turns a reddish colour - the blood of both young people.

We saw a similar statue in town when we first arrived. At the time we didn’t know what it symbolized, but now we do.

In the next blog, I will write a little more about the mountain’s significance.Read more