Years ago, Kristine’s brother Jeff found a driver in Cape Town. He is now the “go to guy” when anyone who knows Jeff visits Cape Town. Beyond Jeff and his colleagues, Raymond has introduced multiple Bakkens, Carascos, and now us to the wonders of the south west Cape. Yesterday was the tour of The Cape of Good Hope. Today we went inland to Wine Country.
All trips involve short detours to see bits of history. Today we went through an old neighborhood that is going “trendy” just up the hill from our hotel, and then we headed out to the edge of the city to drive through the old Black Township, and then a Colored Township. Before the “freedom of movement” law in 1994, these were segregated neighborhoods where the residents rented. In 94, the residents could buy the land (cheaply) and many did.
The neighborhoods have old tiny houses, old houses with tin sheds in the back yard (for tenants). Many of the houses have now been fixed up (fancy fences, nice garage doors, etc) but there are still tin shacks packed in between.
From the outside, the neighborhoods look very poor, but the roofs are covered with satellite dishes, and there are frequently newer cars in the driveway. I think the realtors call this a “transitional neighborhood.”
It was 9am as we went through the townships and the street venders were getting ready for the day; starting fires for the grills, chopping meat, unloading produce. It was a classic street market coming together.
History tour over, it was time to head east for wine tasting. The first stop was Meerlust Wine Estates in Stellenbosch. The farm dates back to the late 1600s, and has been making wine since about 1980. One family has owned the estate the whole time, and the owner still lives in the original (now expanded) house. No tours.
The wine was good, but we have no room to carry any back.
We did the tour of Stellenbosch (second most important university in the Western Cape), and then headed farther east to Franschhoek (lit. French Village). The drive from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek was like driving through Napa with large wineries all along the road. Franschhoek is the small town full of weekend shops for wandering around — it felt very familiar like many such weekend escape towns.
Raymond selected lunch at “The Chef’s Warehouse at Maison”. and aimed us at the 5-course tasting menu. We looked at the menu in detail, and made the necessary gluten adjustments, and crossed our fingers just for luck.
We ate some food we never would have considered before and found it very good. It was all about “the sauce” for almost every course……and it took 3 hours.
The entertainment between courses where the local wildlife, and watching the grapes grow.
Looking at the clock, it was time to head home — no more wine searching. we had a long drive ahead.
Evening dessert on the V&A waterfront (big mall, restaurants, street musicians), and home to pack for the flight tomorrow.
We end with a big “Thank You Very Much!” to Raymond for the wonderful tour of the area. We learned more than we hoped for, saw more than we thought possible in two days, and leave with a deeper appreciation of this corner of the world.
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