‘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 at – 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.