Bolonia to Vejer de la Frontera

Saturday 22 October 2022: Bolonia to Vejer de la Frontera

The Andalucian Coast to Coast Walk: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Through the Baetic Mountains Book by Guy Hunter-Watts finishes at Bolonia but we continued walking to Zahara de los Atunes and then took a bus to Vejer de la Frontera.

Distance (Bolonia to Zahara de los Atunes): 12.0 km Time: 3:00 Ascent: 170m Descent: 190m – Wikiloc

Camarinal lighthouse built in the 16th to protect the Cadiz coast against pirates
In 1990 it was restored and enabled as a lighthouse

Typical Mediterranean scrub land around the lighthouse

We decided the legs needed one last workout in the sand

Zahara de Los Atunes (pop 1,000 ) dates back to the Phoenicians. It was a simple fishing village specializing in trapping tuna (as its name suggests) until the fifteenth century when the Castle was built to protect against Barbary pirates.

Remains of the 15th century Zahara Castle walls

Attached to the Castle, Our Lady of Carmen Chapel in Zahara is 16th century barrel-vaulted brick inside
Back then poached tuna were butchered in the privacy of the church

We had to have tuna for lunch but how to choose?

Dried salted tuna and orange salad to start

Sunday 23 October 2022: Vejer de la Frontera

Vejer (pop 12,500), standing on a 200-meter-high mountain, is part of the ‘Association of the Most Beautiful Towns in Spain’, some say it is the most beautiful of all the towns. In 711, Vejer fell into Muslim hands and remained under Arab rule for five and a half centuries until the Moors were expelled in 1285. de la Frontera, means “of the frontier” because it was on the border between Islamic and Christian populations prior to the reconquest.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon, the town full with tour groups and extended families enjoying long lunches, loudly. Oh, no… this is a White Village theme park we thought. Only early the next morning, the streets deserted, did we appreciate the beauty and history of the town.

The white village of Vejer de la Frontera sits on a 200m high mountain

Plaza España, its ceramic tiled fountain with frogs sprouting water

16th century Church of The Devine Saviour, a Mudejar construction built on the floor of a previous mosque

*Puerta Cerrada*, the Jewish inhabitants kept this gate closed for centuries to fend off Moroccan pirates

The walled enclosure of Vejer covered an area of about 4 hectares. Its 2m thick walls extend over 2km, zigzagging through the village, adjusting to the steep slopes of the terrain.

Ancient Convent of Our Lady of The Conception, founded 1552, currently houses the Municipal Museum of Customs and Traditions of Vejer

*Molinos de Viento*, windmills, are a symbol of Vejer de la Frontera

We stayed in the old town in an apartment with a traditional internal courtyard

From Vejer we took a bus to Sevilla for two days rest before going home.

Click on the image below for the photos from our week in Sevilla in 2015.

Sevilla