Day Thirty Five - Franschhoek Wine Tour

 

Same excellent guide and bus driver as Day 33.

Cape Town also has a sea wall walking path.  The Atlantic on one side with rocky and sandy shores and on the land side, green lawns with gardens, playgrounds, mini put, workout stations with full gym equipment.

A Lighthouse erected in the late 1800's is affectionately known as  the "moaning Nellie".

Robben Island, formerly home of the prison for convicts and lawbreakers, has been converted to a heritage island and the prison, a museum.

Today, we 're headed west along the coastline. Past working Harbour with huge ships, cranes and storage docks as well as a huge fleet of fishing boats of all shapes and sizes. We passed rolling green hills, golf courses, little streams lined with the beautiful Scandinavian pines and other lush green trees and bushes. As we drive further West, we came past the oldest township known as "Langa". Some "Shanty towns" in the Cape Town are slowly being converted to block housing. Migrant labourers originally lived here. Colored townships were built by the Apartheid government for the colored people.The poverty is apparent here. But slowly the area is being converted and tidied up. Fences built around the homes along the highways are to keep the livestock in. Goats, cows, chickens are part of the lifestyle of the townships.

A few miles out of Cape Town, there is a huge township.1.5 - 1.7 million and is the second largest in South Africa next to one in Johannesburg. 

"Hottentots". The row of low lying, jagged mountains off to the West.

We past a movie site for "Black Sails" with 3 life sized pirate ships in different positions and a town set from that era.

Entering wine region of Stellenbosch.  More than 600 wine estates.  Town of Stellenbosch named after second governor of South Africa. Rolling hills with greenery everywhere and rows and rows of vineyards perfectly symmetrical throughout. Tuscany but on a larger, grander scale. Stellenbosch is a lovely little historical town with heritage homes and quaint restaurants and coffee shops. The town was planted with oak trees in its beginning and they are now protected which means that all buildings must be built around the trees. They cannot be endangered.

The University in Stellenbosch keeps the town alive as its population is 22-23,000 of mostly young people.  Classes taught in Afrikan. Male and females dormed separately. Expulsion immediate if caught in wrong one.

Dutch gave open passage to French during British invasion. French helped Dutch with their wine making.

Driving past the village, we started climbing through hills and vales of lush greenery bordered by dramatic rocky mountains on either side. Similar to the valleys and mountains in Switzerland.  

Hard to believe this is the same Africa of the harsh, lifeless, stark, rocky areas we'd seen in Namibia or the red dune deserts. How diverse the country and each area as striking and breath-taking in its own way.

On the way to our final destination, we stopped at a village where there was a prison where Nelson Mandela was released from.  He had his own residence but it was completely bugged.

Our final destination is Solms Delta Winery Estate in Franschhoek where we had a tour of a very small winery with excellent wines made from combinations of grapes. The wine-tasting that followed put the group into a jovial mood, even in the sweltering heat! 

 

After the tasting, we walked down to a lovely shaded lawn beside a cool stream and enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch packed in traditional picnic  baskets.  Lunch was ribs, chicken, meatballs, cheese and crackers, potato salad, broccoli salad, and buns along with dessert of donut balls and custard squares. Yes, enough to feed an army! 

After lunch, we managed to make our way back to the bus in the scorching heat of the day and collapse into the air conditioned coach in relief!

Back to Cape Town with a quick stop in the darling little boutique town of Franschhoek, which is to Cape Town what Monterey would be to Los Angeles. A wealthy bedroom community.

The bus was very quiet on the drive back. I think we were sleeping off the wine and the large meal!

Back to the hotel and a nice refreshing shower and then off to dinners to our own destinations.

A perfect end to a perfect day......JT