sent from: El Barco de Avila, Spain. destination: Dublin, Ireland

Peñaflor is a village now in ruins, dating back several hundred years, nestled in between El Tejado and Medinilla, on the south side of the Berrueco mountains. The walk to its ruined church tower is one of my favourites in the area, in particular at this time of year when the flowering yellow broom and deep purple lavender are in full force. It inspired many of the colour choices for our wedding, even though bringing in the wild flowers proved too tricky to pull off.
There is a record of a battle between Moors and Christians in the area, when this part of Spain was the border region of Moorish Spain, and many castles were built to guard against “the invaders”. From this we get “Castille”, the region and “Castillian” Spanish.
The beautiful old stones of Peñaflor have become their own battle ground, slowly overtaken with trees and weeds, each neighbouring village claiming ownership, and pointing fingers at the other for stealing what little remains.