A Day in the South African Countryside

"It's the doing and the loving of the doing that brings happiness." ~Agromenes, Country Life

Nicki: 

Today was another beautiful day in South Africa. It was a little hazier than yesterday, but we spent the day touring the countryside. We attending a few wine-tasting events, one being a wine and cheese pairing. It was very fun. The first town we visited was called Stellenbosch, and it was very much in the Dutch theme that Capetown was originally settled with. This was the Main Street of the town: 

It was pretty busy around town today because there was a big wedding going on. The town has a university that is quite beautiful, and it definitely seems like a quaint college town that you might find somewhere in the States. 

The first winery that we visited was Kanonkop, and their wine was very good. We were very excited to hear that their wine is sold in the U.S. and that it was very reasonably priced! Next, we visited Fairview Estates, which seemed like a bigger outfit than Kanonkop. This is where we had the wine and cheese pairing event, and we found out that their U.S. supplier is based out of Huntington Beach and they also sell some wine through Trader Joes, like these: 

You might think this goat theme is strange, but let me explain. They have their own goats from which they make their own goat cheese. It's delicious. And we got to peek at the goats before we left the winery! 

Yes, that's a goat tower.

We moved further on into the countryside, and Andrew took us to yet another winery for lunch (though I was already full from the cheese). This one, called the Adelaire Graff Estate, was absolutely gorgeous. It had the most beautiful view, most amazing sculptures, the fanciest architecture, and the most exclusive artwork. Here's a look:

The floor was made out of peach pits. Yes, peach pits.

Next, we drove even further into the countryside to a little French town where a Bastille Day Festival was in full swing. We decided to drive through instead of joining the party, since we were a little tired and it looked overwhelming. Andrew had a backup plan and instead took us to this beautiful property called Babylonstoren, which boasted hundreds of acres of vines, along with an expansive garden that we wandered through for a little bit: 

This was a beautiful little pathway that they decorate up in the springtime. They put potted plants all over these stumps and hang plants from the archway. It goes along the bank of this little stream, and it so tranquil. I kept imagining a very romantic setting walking through these gardens, and it made me miss my man. But I tried to focus more on the beauty that I was seeing so that I could appreciate it rather than getting all melancholy.

And then, just to bring back some humor, I'll end with these:

We ended the day there, and Andrew drove us back to our hotel, where we spent a nice relaxing evening in, since we are getting up early in the morning to move on to the next leg of our adventure: Livingstone and Victoria Falls!

Cindy:

Today was quite fun and informative. We went wine tasting at several vineyards about an hour out of Cape Town. On the way out of town we passed one of the largest shack towns (best word to describe this) we have ever seen. This is as a result of Apartheid - even though these policies haven't been used in years, the segregation still exists. The current President of South Africa lives in one of 4 homes that he has with each of his wives - yes, he has 4 wives (don't know how he does that!) and about 27 to 28 children. Yet, years after Apartheid was demolished these people still live like this - there are lots of reasons, but this was definitely eye opening. They are stuck in these shack villages with no means of bettering themselves as they don't have transportation to the available jobs. There schools are inferior and so the circle of life continues.........very sad and frustrating to see people living like this.

On the way to the first winery we passed a local farm on my side of the car that had these visitors - wildebeests. Not the prettiest of animals!!!!! 

Our first tasting was at Kanonkop - they had very nice Pinotage blends and straight wines. We tasted a Rose', Cap Blend, Pinotage - all made with young grapes; then we tasted a Pinotage, and Paul Sauer made with mature grapes all blended. These were all very good and mild tasting. The Pinotage grapes are grown almost as a ground cover. They are not trained to grow along lines between the trunks. They grow low to the ground and spread out in all directions. I have no idea how they keep the critters from eating all of the fruit. Then we went to a formal pairing of wines with home grown cheeses at Fairview. Nicki and I had a great time tasting these different wines with the different cheeses. After these two visits, we needed lunch so we stopped at Delaire Graff Estate and enjoyed a great lunch out on the patio.

We were going to stop in the local town for chocolates, but they were have a big celebration for Bastille day and the town was quite crowded so we headed back to Cape Town and stopped at this great Estate known for it's wine and farm. It was called Babylonstoren - Dutch heritage. 

Take a look at some of these pictures.

We are off to Victoria Falls tomorrow (early) morning. Hope you enjoyed todays posting and check back with us soon for more info............