The Castle Where I Was Raised

I want to share with you a bit about the awesome place where I was born! The ancient castle and village of Montanchez in Southwestern Spain (about two hours from Seville).

My birthplace was considered in ancient times the sacred mountain of goddess Ataecina, also known as Proserpina and Persephone.

For centuries, the castle was in the middle of a sort of "Game of Thrones" between the Goths/Vandals, from Northern-Europe, who were Christians and the Arabs/Moors, from Northern-Africa, who were Muslims. For centuries, they fought back and forth to rule the land.

Once part of Al-Andalus (an Arabic name for Spain, which means "The Land of the Vandals"), the castle is now, every summer, the venue for a festival under the stars called Encounter of the Three Cultures (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) to honor the times when our ancestors were able to live in peace with each other, we call it "Convivencia."