Vejer de la Frontera — the white lanes and arches

Vejer stands on a bluff ten kilometres inland, and the old town inside its walls has barely changed shape since the fifteenth century. Four surviving gates, the Arco de la Segur among them, frame a subject perfectly; between them run lanes narrow enough that opposite walls almost touch.

The walls are lime-washed and repainted often, which makes them a giant reflector. In the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset the whole town turns apricot and the light bounces around corners into the shaded lanes — you can shoot into an alley and still have a face lit.

The Plazuela and the Plaza de España with its tiled Sevillian fountain give the open frames; the Nuestra Señora de la Oliva church, built onto the old mosque, gives stone and shadow. From the walls the view runs over the Barbate river and, on clear days, to the Atlantic.

Midday is the one thing to avoid: white walls under a high sun blow out and there is very little shade in the squares. Parking is outside the old town, and the lanes are steep in places.