During Semana Santa, Spanish hotels tend to be booked up far in advance and cost a fortune (especially in the big cities). So we were grateful that, a month or two ago, we found a Couch Surfing host for this period. She lives in Vejer de la Frontera, a white hilltop town near the coast south of Seville.
Unfortunately, after the first night, we realized that the cigarette smoke and dampness and doginess of her small apartment were a bit too much for our asthma and allergies. On the upside, Chris managed to find a reasonably priced hotel room (with a view!) on the outskirts of town.
We had hoped to visit the nearby beaches and sea cliffs, but as our host was driving us there, she offered us the choice between the flat, boring route or the bumpy, scenic route. We chose the latter, and half an hour later, her car was stuck up to its axles in muddy ruts. After several hours (and a nice picnic at the edge of a field), we got a lift back to town, leaving the car to its muddy fate until after Easter weekend.
After that, we contented ourselves with walking around town, observing the Semana Santa festivities (those that weren’t rained out), catching up on our Web site, and planning our upcoming trip to Italy. We also encountered a restaurant with a chef from the Caribbean, where we enjoyed some flavors more reminiscent of home than of Spain. Our Easter dinner, for example, consisted of quiche and cajun chicken caesar salad.
Vejer doesn’t have much in the way of sights to see (other than some old walls and a nice view). And by now, white Spanish hill towns were losing their novelty for us. But it was a nice little interlude all the same.
