A Trip to the Cape Winelands

Well, the 90-day rule just kicked in. Out of the blue, we received an email from Capetonians, Benjamin and Belinda, asking if we'd like to go for a ride with them out of the city to see the countryside and perhaps do a little wine-tasting. They'd been following our blog for awhile and thought we'd enjoy a respite from the marina and the frustration of  boat repairs. Boy, were they ever right! We'd spent a day in South Africa's winelands in 2007 and drove through on our trip back from Knysna this year, but we hadn't really explored the area … especially not with locals.

They picked us up at the yacht club promptly at 11am and we headed to Stellenbosch. Since we'd never met them before other than an email and a quick chat on the phone, it was a crap shoot as to whether our personalities would be compatible with theirs. They were a young couple … younger than our kids, in fact … hanging out with an old(er) couple. Well, our fears were unfounded. We chatted and talked and shared stories from the git-go. They were just starting a new family, had jobs, and a new house, but they had the dream of sailing off into the sunset sooner, rather than later. We had lots to talk about and beyond sailing talk, they were good tour guides.

Only about 50km (30mi) east of Cape Town, Stellenbosch was founded in 1679, the second oldest European settlement in the Western Cape. We strolled around this historic town with its pleasant oak-lined streets. Boutiques and galleries, restaurants and cafes were all bustling. Street art was everywhere.

Cape Dutch architecture is notable here featuring its white-washed walls, thatched roofs and ornately embellished gables.

With its fertile soil and Mediterranean-like climate (moist, cool winters; hot, dry summers), early settlers planted vines shortly after arriving. They had their priorities right! The Stellenbosch Wine Route was South Africa's first established wine route and boasts more than 150 members. The area is lush and scenic with a backdrop of the Stellenbosch, Jonkershoek and Simonsberg mountains. We stopped at Tokara for our first wine-tasting of the day. Alvin, our host, poured us a Sauvignon Blanc, then a Chardonnay, then two red blends, all of which were excellent. We munched vineyard-grown olives while enjoying the generous “tastes” of varietal wines.

In 1690, some French Hugenot refugees settled in Franschhoek (French Corner) and immediately set about putting their French viticultural skills to work. The ornate Hugenot Memorial is dedicated to the cultural influences contributed by this French Hugenots to the Cape Colony.

The venue for lunch was the Roca restaurant at the gorgeous Dieu Donné vineyards. Set high in the hills, the views were outstanding as we sipped wine with pleasant company and enjoyed a gourmet lunch of the line catch of the day and roast duck.

We lingered over lunch and the day was waning by the time we arrived at Haute Cabriere. We entered the cavern tasting room through large wooden doors.

This was a good place for our last tastings of the day. We tried two brut MCCs (method cap classique) … champagne! And finished with a Ratafia, a white, sweet fortified wine (brandy) that was perfect for the end of the day. I'm not sure we could have indulged in further tastings.

On our way home from Franschhoek, Benjamin suggested stopping at the Drakenstein Correctional Centre, famous for the prison where Nelson Mandela spent his last days of incarceration before his release in 1990. A large statue of Mandela, arm raised in the Black power salute, stands in the entrance to the prison.

The day ended with hugs and an invitation for dinner aboard Nine of Cups. Gotta love this 90-day rule. By the way, Belinda is a native Afrikanner and we learned a new, very versatile Afrikaans word: ja nee (YAH-neyah), literal translation yes/no, but it's common form of agreement. “We really enjoyed our day in the winelands, didn't we?”  Ja nee!

Destination Cape Town

Top Things to Do in Cape Town, South Africa

It's known as the Mother City, the oldest city in South Africa. It's been called the Tavern of the Seas, a crossroads on the clipper ship route, famous as a place for meeting and “refreshing”.   In 2014, it was named the best place in the world to visit by both The New York Times and London's Daily Telegraph. Lonely Planet placed it as #2 for best value destination in 2015. Cradled snugly in the lush bowl formed where the Atlantic and Table Mountain meet, Cape Town is, without a doubt, one of the most vibrant, beautiful cities we've ever visited.

There's so much to do and so much to see, you really need some time to take it all in. We're so fortunate to have visited twice for a month each time. There's much, much more, but we're happy to share with you our picks for the top things to see and do in Cape Town.

Table Mountain

It's the backdrop for the whole city. You can hike up or take the cable car. Take a look at the mountain before you head there. Pick a clear, calm day. The views are spectacular and the walks on the plateau at the top are easy and interesting with unparalleled vistas in every direction. Consider purchasing tickets on-line in advance to cut down some of the waiting time. Early morning has shorter lines. You can also hike to the top of Lions Head for outstanding views and drive to the top of Signal Hill for views and the firing of the Noon Gun.

Robben Island

You cannot leave Cape Town without having visited Robben Island, Nelson Mandela's prison for 18 of his 27 years of incarceration. The museum is interesting, but it is the tour of the island, seeing Mandela's cell, observing the conditions under which the prisoners lived, the stone quarries in which they worked and listening to the accounts of former prisoners that all hit you emotionally. A 9-mile (~15km) ferry ride brings you to the island where you board a bus for the guided tour.

Cape Point and Boulders Beach

Part of the Table Mountain National Park, visit Cape Point for spectacular views and up close encounters with local wildlife. Stand on the Cape of Good Hope, see the lighthouse at the tip of the Cape, take a look at the Dias Cross, but watch out for the Chacma baboons. They're cheeky. Not far away is Simon's Town and Boulders Beach where you can swim with African penguins that call the beach home. There's a national parks fee to enter Boulders Beach, but further up the beach closer to Simon's Town, there are penguins and no admission fees.

V&A Waterfront

It's busy and frenetic and definitely a don't-miss part of Cape Town. Shops, restaurants, a high-end mall, hotels, diamonds, museums, pubs, an aquarium, free movies, souvenirs galore, the Cape Wheel, buskers, the iconic Clock Tower,  Cape Wheel, a swing bridge, souvenirs ... did I mention diamonds? It's all there. Walking around and enjoying the atmosphere is absolutely free. Diamonds? Well, there's a slight charge for those.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

Bequeathed to the country by mining magnate and politician, Cecil John Rhodes, Kirstenbosch lies at the foot of Table Mountain and offers a wonderful respite from the busy city. Bring a picnic lunch and plan your visit when there's an evening concert.

Company's Garden and Downtown Museums

There are lots of museums in Cape Town and we certainly didn't get a chance to visit them all. We can recommend these four, for sure.

Company's Garden is a 15-acre park in the center of the city originally planted by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 to supply fresh vegs and fruits to passing ships that plied the spice route to the East. It's wonderful for a stroll and along its periphery are several landmarks and museums to visit.

Iziko South Africa Museums – Located near the historic Company's Garden, this group of museums offers so much, it's nearly overwhelming. The South African Museum is the country's national museum and it's chock full of interesting exhibits and also has a planetarium; the South African National Gallery (of art) is nearby, as well as the Slave Lodge.

District 6 Museum – a solemn reminder of the apartheid era and its influence on the country and its people.

Castle of Good Hope is a fort in the middle of the city, originally built by the Dutch East India Company for its “replenishment” station. It's the oldest colonial building in South Africa and it's fun to cross the moat and walk on the ramparts and explore.

Winelands Touring

South Africa has the second oldest wine-producing industry in the world, second only to Europe. Constantia is the oldest winery in the country and there are officially 17 wine routes, mostly concentrated in the Western Cape. The longest wine route in the world is said to be Route 62, a lovely route with vineyards and tasting rooms galore.

Downtown Walk

There's lots to be said for just walking around downtown and taking it all in. There's Greenmarket Square for cafes, antiques and Africana. Browse along St. George's Pedestrian Mall. Try the Pan-African Market for locally produced, high quality crafts. Bo Kaap is the Malay Quarter and its brightly colored houses and cobblestone streets are interesting to wander. Try Atlas Trading for spices, candles and incense. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies to explore. Be streetwise and enjoy yourself.

A couple of notes

Most every sight listed above is accessible by either a MyCiti bus or the on/off red tour bus.

Though Cape Town is a beautiful, dynamic city, it's only a small part of what South Africa has to offer. Game parks, scenery, wild animals along the roadside … get out of the city if you can.

Visit the Nine of Cups South Africa page for more insight, ideas and photos

A Night in Knysna

...and all we didn't see

Knysna (Nighs-nah) is a small coastal town about 500 km (300 miles) east of Cape Town. It's a long story why we drove 300 miles to a place we had passed by in Nine of Cups, but suffice it to say, it's a lovely place and we enjoyed the ride there, which was much faster by car at 120km/hour than by boat at 5 knots/hour. We went over Sir Lowry Pass through the Hottentots-Holland Mountains. We had to watch constantly for baboons as they were all over the road for quite a stretch. Don't ask me why one baboon in the picture has a suitcase. No clue. Perhaps going on a trip?

The landscape changed from mountainous to rolling hills with vineyards and apple orchards and then the rolling hills were brown, furrowed fields newly planted with winter crops or crowded with lambs and newly shorn sheep. The brown soil became iron-rich rusty red and the sheep were joined by goats and ostrich. In one field, we spotted blue cranes, South Africa's graceful national bird.

We're not fast travelers. We stopped for coffee and then we stopped to stretch our legs and get rid of the coffee and then it was time for lunch. We stopped for gas next to the Scarab Art Centre which boasted a huge dung beetle complete with dilapidated dung ball at its entrance. Perhaps this is the world's largest dung beetle and ball … I'm not sure.  Elephant dung paper was advertised, but the place which claimed to be open every day (except today) appeared closed, so we couldn't investigate. Imagine elephant dung paper as your official stationery. What a souvenir … much better than biltong or a t-shirt.

Knysna is a charming, touristy kind of place on the well-traveled Garden Route with a bustling main road and downtown area, a vibrant waterfront, a marina and a friendly yacht club. We arrived mid-afternoon in time to walk around the waterfront, get our bearings and invite cruising friends who were moored there for dinner.

It seems the town is known primarily for two things: The Knysna Heads and The Knysna Forest … neither of which we had a chance to see. I thought I'd share them with you anyway, so we all know just what we missed.

The Knysna Heads are two huge headlands that stand sentry at the Indian Ocean entrance and guard the tricky passage into the Knysna Lagoon. There are roads and trails to both the Heads and it seems it would probably have been a fun and interesting thing to climb up there, but of course, we didn't. I nicked a pic of the Heads to share with you and there's even a webcam with live pix of the Heads entrance.  On a calm day and with local knowledge, the entrance is quite passable. With a big southwest swell running, the entrance becomes nearly impossible. Driving on land has its positives.

The Knysna Forest is a subtropical mountain forest, home to significant endemic wildlife and the last remnants of the Knysna bush elephant which roamed the area in vast numbers until European immigrants hunted them to near extinction in 19th and 20th centuries. Though seldom seen, it is thought a very small population still exists in the forest and is the last of the “wild”, i.e. unfenced, elephants remaining in South  Africa. The Knysna Elephant Park, a nearby elephant refuge, allows up-close and personal interaction with elephants from all over Africa, but not actual Kynsna elephants.

We overnighted at the Rex Hotel, a 4-star hotel with deeply discounted winter rates. It was lovely. We were invited to the friendly Knysna Yacht Club for morning coffee. Sacred ibis and numerous waders searched for nibbles in the shallow lagoon waters as we sat and drank our coffees and chatted amiably with the local yachties.

After seeing more than the usual number of sea horse souvenirs, I learned that the Knysna sea horse, aka Cape sea horse, found in the Knysna lagoon and endemic to this part of the south coast, is the rarest sea horse in the world.

We passed through the 3.9 km(2.4 miles) long Hugenot Tunnel under the Du Toitskloof Mountains. This is the longest tunnel in South Africa and they claim that when the two drill heads met from either side of the tunnel there was an error of only 3mm over its entire length. That's pretty extraordinary considering that David readily admits he has a problem drilling even a few inches and making the ends meet more closely than 3mm.

Emerging from the tunnel and heading down the mountainside, Table Mountain came into view once more, a sure sign we were almost home.

When we arrived at the yacht club, the sun was setting, the moon was rising and the pinks and oranges of the waning day were gorgeous. So much for not seeing much in Knysna, but we certainly enjoyed the trip.