The Winelands

The Winelands

Following Kruger, we flew to Capetown and drove to the wine lands about 30 minutes from the city. By the airport extending for miles are squatter towns, rows and rows of shacks made out of everything and anything. The squatters can put in their names for government housing, but it can take up to 8 years to be approved. Then, when they are approved, some of them stay in their shacks and rent out the houses for the money.

In the wine lands, we stayed in Spier. Our hotel is part of a large resort with wineries, restaurants, a cheetah rescue complex, and craft shops. Our room is huge with a fireplace and patio. It's like an upscale resort in Napa. We drove and stopped in 2 charming towns, Stellenbosch and Franchook kind of like St. Helena or Carmel with tree lined streets, quaint shops, and upscale restaurants. Dutch, followed by French Huguenots settled the area. When the French came, escaping religious persecution, the Dutch didn’t want them to become a powerful clique so they did not allow them to farm next to one another. Today, French place names and family names remain. I went shopping and Dan took his camera and explored the town. He was surprised to find a synagogue, still in operation, on one of the side streets

The countryside is magnificent with beautiful vineyards, rolling hills, rugged mountains. We had lunch in a fantastic restaurant, Dieu Donne, at a winery overlooking a lush, green valley. We got to taste 4 different, delicious wines with our lunch. We had a choice of impala, some other African animal, or muscles and calamari. I was planning on not eating. Another lady asked if she could have a salad instead and so did I. We started with butternut squash soup, a wonderful chicken salad, and apple tart and ice cream, all yummy and beautifully served in very modern, geometric, white dishes. It was a crystal clear, pleasantly warm day, and after we sat outside overlooking the valley, a perfect afternoon. South African wines are delicious and extremely reasonable. We next went to the cheetah rescue center. After seeing them in the wild, it was no big thing. There was more wine tasting at our resort, but we opted out.