Peña de los Enamorados

In the beautiful river plain of Antequera, halfway between this town and the neighbouring town of Archidona, stands the Peña de los Enamorados (The Lovers' Rock). It is a limy mountain that has a peculiar shape – it looks like the head of an Indian lying down, so it is also known as “The Indian of Antequera”.

878 metres high, it is situated next to the motorway and near the old N-342.

The profile of the Peña de los Enamorados is very unusual because it looks like a human's face lying down on the ground, facing the sky. The explanation for this peculiar silhouette on the town's horizon comes from a legend with the same name, inspired by the Middle Ages and known especially thanks to the stories from the Spanish Golden Age.

Legend has it that Tello, a Christian who was captive in Granada, fell in love with a beautiful woman of Archidona, called Tagzona. Their love was so strong that they decided to escape to the Christian lands of Antequera. As they were on their way, the girl's father discovered them and he sent his bowmen to stop them. The two lovers climbed up the mountain that lies halfway between Archidona and Antequera, and as they saw they were going to be caught, they decided that they preferred to die together than to live apart. So they held onto each other and jumped from the top of the mountain. And since then this place has been called "The Lovers' Rock". “From the craggy rock they jumped and in the air they left their souls” (Carvajal y Robles).

The area around the Peña de los Enamorados is 117 hectares and very interesting from an ecological point of view, so many people come to visit it. It has been designated a Property of Cultural Interest thanks to the archaeological importance of the area, which has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic era. On 9 February 2016 the Peña de los Enamorados was listed as a Landscape of Cultural Interest in Andalusia.