Friday, 23 May 2014

Delicious wine, tricky driving and historical Stellenbosch.

We headed down one of the most famous roads of the Garden Route, the Route 62 and took in the views...




They are all tar rather than gravel roads in SA, however there are still some driving risks in rocky areas!

“I drive a motorbike, so there is the whiff of the grim reaper round every corner, especially in London.” -  Benedict Cumberbatch


On the open road.


Surrounded by lovely mountains.

Our next stop was in Robertson, one of the wine regions, where we were at the Rosendal Winery and Spa. We arrived to a warm welcome and an impromptu wine tasting specially organised for us, before a relaxing hour or two taking in the views and swimming in the gorgeous pool as the sun went down. 


"Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy." - Benjamin Franklin


Our lovely little patio.

Homely room.

Glass of Merlot? Don't mind if I do!

 Views of the vineyards.


 Sundowner time.


Pool and pond.

Stunning infinity pool and views.

Dinner was delicious and it turned out the waitress knew people I knew from my time in Namibia. 

We slept deeply and after a scrummy, arty looking breakfast we left Rosendal all too soon. We both regretted not staying for longer, and would definitely return.


We headed over to Springfield Estate Winery - producers of one of my favourite wines, Whole Berry, it may have been 9am but we had to taste all their wines as they are so good. We did not leave empty handed, especially as the prices are so good at source! Unfortunately with luggage restrictions we had to be limited in our purchases, but snaffled away a few bottles including the Methode Ancienne - their most exclusive wine!


"Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever." - Aristophanes

We drove on through the pretty town of Franschhoek and over the mountains and passes in this area, a tricky drive, but seriously stunning and famed on the Garden Route as one of the most lovely drives.







 
More vines.

 
'Table cloth clouds' like that of Table Mountain (or Tafelberg in Afrikaans), are common in this part of the world.




On some of the passes there was a fair way down! 

Some steep hills up, and down (much steeper than it looks!)


 
This is much steeper than it looks and the truck in front had to go super slow top prevent runaway!

And some serious bends!!!

“Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.” -  Colin Powell


Our next stop was the artsy town of Stellenbosch. This is a big university town and is steeped in history. We drove through the centre and on to the outskirts, we struggled some to find The Stables Lodge, our home for the night, so stopped at a local winery - for tea and a taste of the vine grapes (in grape form!) this time! 

"Wine is a treacherous friend who you must always be on guard for." - Christian Nestell Bovee

Some views from the relaxing winery.


Refreshed and with directions we headed back and managed to find our location. The Italian owner was lovely and friendly and gave us some recommendations for the evening. 

"One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time." - Hermann Hesse

We walked to town, past some lovely houses and through the edges of the uni grounds. The restaurant recommended was full as it was Freshers Week and parents were dropping their children off and taking them out for dinner. We plumped for the Cape Town Fish Market chain restaurant and started with cocktails. Everything appeared to be going well until we had an hour and a half wait between the yummy starter and the cold insipid main, epic fail Cape Town Fish Market!

"That food was so bad I can't wait for it to become a turd and leave me." - Thomas McGuane


We had a look around Stellenbosch the next day, with a lovely lunch in an arsty cafe and a browse around some lovely independent boutique shops.

"My look is a Modern Bohemian type thing." - Frances Bean Cobain

 We looked through the Village Museum  which is a collection of old buildings throughout the ages. Each building is genuinely from its period with artefacts from the times held within, but some renovations have taken place in some of the properties to return them to a by gone era. In each of the properties there is a host dressed in traditional clothing who tells you about that time and what took place in these houses, which was really interesting.

"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon." - Napoleon Bonaparte



Skins drying.

Loved this corner chair.

Meow

Herbs drying.

Dinner time?


As you move through the houses you can see how the times move on too.

And the furniture is upgraded.


Upright piano.

Lovely view to the gardens.


Kids toys lined up (for some reason this display felt a little creepy).

Bathroom furniture.

Medicince chest / Apothecary cupboard.

Before we knew it we were on the road again! With a solemn promise that on our next road trip we would spend more than one night somewhere!

"When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it." - Albert Camus

We drove back to Cape Town and spent about an hour lost on one side of the city thinking we were much closer to where we needed to be than we were. Eventually we found our BnB. The lovely receptionist/maid let us in and helped us to the room. We had booked Villa Belladonna as a treat - with private entrances, self catering options, braai, a hot tub, gym facilities and private balconies and views over the city we were really excited. Sadly, this is not what we got, we were in a cramped and shabby room above the garage and didn't feel comfortable there at all. The description was marketing at its best stretch and our write up on Tripadvisor reflected that!


"For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through." - Steve Jobs

The area of Vredehoek itself was really lovely with some small independent restaurants and cafes for dinner - which was great as we were a way out in the foothills of Table Mountain. Red Sofa Cafe was lovely for breakfast and Sidewalk Cafe was a great little dinner find with Bella Italia doing portions big enough to share!

The next few days were spent on the bus tour and seeing Cape Towns historical sites...


"In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it." - John Archibald Wheeler

Monday, 19 May 2014

Exploring the Cango Caves and a surprise waterfall.

We headed out of Oudtshoorn and on to the Cango Caves. This is one of the most amazing natural sites I have ever seen. The cave system is huge and has really big chambers in places, plus really small squeeze spaces in others. Alongside a small amount of rock art, some of the rock formations seem to have pictures in them and there are some really ancient stalagmites and stalactites in there too. There are three sections made of different chambers and passageways. Visitors can explore the first two and watch a video of explorers in the third chamber - now shut from the public and scientists for preservation reasons. There are two tours, the hour Heritage Tour and the hour and a half Adventure Tour. The Heritage Tour is an easy walking tour, with lots of information  as you walk through the large chambers and passages. The Adventure Tour has more crawl spaces, small passages and is more like pot holing for beginners. We opted for the Heritage Tour to leave our fears of claustrophobia behind. 


Bushman rock art.

"Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century." - Marshall McLuhan

At the start of the tour and the top of the cave system there was evidence that the San Bushmen had lived in the top few caves, our guide reported that the caves were a good place to stay, but the bushmen were afraid to go further into the system and largely stayed in this top cave for fear of what lay within.

Large rock formation in the top cave.


This first chamber is huge and contains some amazing formations, stalagmites and stalactites. This chamber was so large it had a stage built into it and used to host classical concerts until guests started to venture further into the cave system and snap off pieces of the formations as souvenirs. In places formations that had taken hundreds of years to form had been tragically badly damaged.

"The need to make music, and to listen to it, is universally expressed by human beings. I cannot imagine, even in our most primitive times, the emergence of talented painters to make cave paintings without there having been, near at hand, equally creative people making song. It is, like speech, a dominant aspect of human biology." - Lewis Thomas


 Here are some of the formations and pictures our guide shared...


 This one was like organ pipes.


  This one was like a chandelier.




This formation was a stalagmite and a stalactite that had met in the middle and was hundreds of years old.

Waterfall.

There were so many pictures in this section of formations from faces to whales and dolphins.

Here are the stack of whales.





There is a face in this one.

This is an angels wing and there is a bible at the bottom.

 This was called the bridal chamber as the formation looks like a four poster bed.




See the eagle with its beak hanging down?

 And the rhinos eye and horn?

At the end of a tour we watched a video about the exploration team accessing the final section of the cave system. The way in seemed rather treacherous through underwater caves and tunnels, but the formations made from natural crystals and gemstones in here are stunning. The system is now sealed of to preserve it and may never be opened again, so it was great to see the video of it.

We drove on and found a sign to a waterfall and deceided to have a little walk in the veldt to see it. It must have been around 100m tall and it was well worth the detour.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." - Lewis Carroll





"The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it's so great, because for a little bit I'm out of my brain, and it's got nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness." - Chris Evans

 
The pools at the bottom were quite deep.

And the waterfall kept dropping as the river wound its way through the forest.


Before we knew it we were back on our way over to a lovely winery and spa...




...we headed off on Route 62 and kept taking in the stunning scenery.

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson