Ayora

Ayora lies in a valley between the Castilian plateau and the mountains of Valencia, beneath a castle that reflects its frontier history. After the Christian conquest it belonged to Castile before passing to the Crown of Aragon in 1281. A small Morisco community lived in the town into the early seventeenth century, with its own mosque. The royal expulsion order of 1609 brought upheaval to Ayora and neighbouring villages, where some Moriscos resisted rather than leave their homes.