Driving west from Nerja, we called in at various places I can’t even remember the names of now! Not inspired we did look forward to arriving in Vejer and were delighted to find it largely as remembered from 2005. We loved the quiet, cobbled streets; the fact that we had to try out our fledgling Spanish in shops and most restaurants but most of all we loved the friendliness of the locals. Wandering around, out of season, so many people smiled and gave you a, “buenos.”
Sea mist from our accommodation near the castle.
Another reason for choosing Vejer rather than the coast?
Could this be where we would find our holiday home in the sun? Of course, Vejer was not quite a coastal location so didn’t quite match our criteria. Nearby Conil was going to tick all the boxes! We liked Conil, saw a couple of properties within budget so knew it had potential. A couple of days walking along the almost deserted and slightly wild Costa de la Luz beaches clarified one thing for us. Despite seeing some pleasant locations near Nerja we were drawn to the Atlantic waves and quickly decided the Costa de la Luz was our aspiration.
Perhaps surprisingly, we also decided that we both drawn to Vejer de la Frontera more than Conil or the other coastal towns. It wasn’t as close to the sea as we’d aspired to so wouldn’t offer regular evenings promenading on a seafront, but it did have the vibe of a lively, year-round Spanish working town. And several wonderful Atlantic beaches were only a twenty-minute drive away.
As our location hunting did include viewing properties to get the feel of prices and affordability we established a relationship with De la Luz Properties in Vejer and looked at a few town houses with them. “Old Town” properties were quirky and interesting but damp seemed to be a continual house guest! The modern builds out at La Noria were practical, low maintenance and often with a communal pool. Clearly the sensible option. We did look at one property on the edge of the old town. First impressions were mixed. A decent sized kitchen – tick. The interior was a little dark and gloomy – cross. Spacious accommodation – tick. No obvious damp – tick. Three bedrooms – tick, but an odd layout that involved walking through one bedroom to access another – cross. Extensive roof terrace with wonderful views of old town Vejer – tick. A little over-budget – cross.
One of the properties we saw with a spacious terrace and wonderful views of old town Vejer.
Given we were happy with two bedrooms it seemed that we had a good chance of finding a holiday home in Vejer that we might like and could afford. The trip did the job, we’d now looked along the Spanish coast from Valencia south and round to the Atlantic Costa de la Luz. Before flying home we had decided that Vejer was the location – let the house hunting begin!
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