‘A mirage at the top of a hill’: food, drink and adventure in Spain’s Vejer de la Frontera

This Andalucían town has centuries of stories to tell, from the Moors to the Romans. But it’s a Scotsman who has written its latest chapter, transforming a sleepy backwater into a tourist hub

Just above the horizon, wild horses gallop around a white domed building while, within petting distance, a small donkey munches on wild poppies and purple periwinkle. We are pausing to take in the view, before we cycle back after a day of hiking and swimming surrounded by forests of pine trees on the Andalucían coast.

Later that evening, the light fades to a delicious pink hue, bathing the streets as tourists pass by the pomegranate tree at the foot of the small town. They always pause, and sometimes point upwards to what appears to be a mirage at the top of the hill. Yet this impossibly white enclave tumbling down the hillside is not a mirage, but the town of Vejer de la Frontera, in the Spanish province of Cádiz.