In Stellenbosch we stayed in what they claimed to be the oldest hotel in South Africa. It was ok, but we were not there much and the breakfast did not match the one we had at the B&B in Franschhoek.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Holiday - Cape Town XXXIV
In Stellenbosch we ended up at Delheim, where we enjoyed a very fine cheese plate. Funnily enough the winetasting session was hosted by a German. Hmmm.
Holiday - Cape Town XXXIII
After Franschhoek we stopped by for a few glasses in Stellenbosch, another and more well-known wine area, where they were a bit more flamboyant. Everything for the tourists.
Holiday - Cape Town XXXII
Read and weap. 180 rand is about 22 Swiss fran
cs or 19 US$. For 6 bottles!
cs or 19 US$. For 6 bottles!Holiday - Cape Town XXXI
In Franschhoek there are plenty of B&B's and we chose to stay in one of the guesthouses, hosted by a nice lady. Breakfast in the morning (incl in the very decent price) consisted of whatever you wanted, made in the kitchen to your liking.
Here's Bro studying the map (he re-discovered that I'm useless when it comes to finding my way) and the lemon trees in the garden.
One disappointment on the trip, not so much to me but to Bro, was that he was reading in the paper that one of the top 50 restaurants in the world (!) was just around the corner from where we stayed. Of course we went there, but not surprisingly it was fully booked. Le Quartier Français.
Holiday - Cape Town XXX
In order not to appear too alcoholic, we decided to do a tour to learn about wine-making. It sounded a lot like grapes bla-bla-bla harvesting bla-bla-bla handpicked bla-bla-bla to me. But the results are shown here. Kinda wish I had a wine-cellar.
Holiday - Cape Town XXIX
Spittoon, ever heard of it? I hadn't. And I can honestly say that I never thought I would need one. It's a thingy you spit out wine in. Now, why would anybody want to do that?
Hmmm, but after tasting wine at 11 in the morning (because most wine farms close at 5 pm - which indeed is strange in itself - and you want to do as many as you possibly can per day) after recovering from food poisoning it did turn out to be a handy device. Shame on me!
Holiday - Cape Town XXVIII
There really are some great places where you can taste wine around Cape Town. I am sorry we didn't have more time. Really.
Holiday - Cape Town XXVII
After getting a whiff of the wine-tasting in Constantia we rented a car and drove off to Franschhoek.
Holiday - Cape Town XXV
Hehe, I thought this was funny, but of course Obama has made an impact on a country primarily consisting of black people.
Holiday - Cape Town XXIV
After the fish we felt like we needed to flush it down with some prime wine from the area. Off we went to Groot Constantia, which is the bigger of the two Constantias. The other one is consequently named Klein Constantia. We of course went to both.
The little one in the middle of the pic has been to over 200 vineyards (hard to believe isn't it?), and as a good friend recommended only
the best.
the best.The comment for the pic below can only be: Size matters!
Holiday - Cape Town XXIII
The day after the safari I was recovering nicely, if being a little weak. Time for the aquarium in the Waterfront area.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Holiday - Cape Town XXI
When I travel my stomach stops working (I know, more information that you wanted but it's my blog!). This becomes very uncomfortable after like 5 days and in Cape Town I went to buy some laxative. Worked like a charm, but I needn't had bothered.
After the evening safari a few days later we were due to go on an early morning safari, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that for me.
At three in the morning I canonball puked my guts out. Food poisoning! Very bad timing indeed. Also unfortunate that the bathroom door wouldn't close, so poor Bro had to participate so to speak. Much against his will I imagine.
At five o'clock in the morning it was time again. Didn't realize I had eaten so much. And on top of everything it started to come out another place too. At the same time. And there was only one toilet. It's a tuff choice whether to puke on the floor, or shit in your pants.
Another round at seven o'clock. I tell ya, I wasn't feeling at all well. Dehydrated like an alcoholic the morning after. Not that I would know.
At twelve o'clock we had to leave and go with the taxi back to Cape Town. Halfway there I had to ask the driver to stop, but he couldn't fast enough. I cascade puked with half my body hanging out the window. Charming! But he was very nice about it, and even called the day after to ask how I was. We probably tipped him too much.
Anyway, after a day of rest I was fit to go again. But I can say one thing, wine just doesn't taste the same after food poisoning, and we were off to the vineyards for wine-tasting!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Holiday - Cape Town XIX
One of the big fives I unfortunately didn't get to see live, pic taken by Bro. Looks cute!
Holiday - Cape Town XV
The elephants didn't want to appear on the picture.
The springbok is a very common animal in South 
Africa.
Holiday - Cape Town XIV
Safari-time! Went around with about 5 people in a jeep plus one ranger and the driver. Pretty close to the animals at times. Scary but very very exciting! See the hippos?
Holiday - Cape Town XIII
(Un)fortunately, depending on how you see it, our chalet was the one furthest away. We were practically living in the jungle. Spent the afternoon on the veranda in the sun animal-spotting. Saw ostriches and a giraffe. There were an almost invisble tiny electric fence just outside, but was informed that the buffalos had learned to walk around it behind our chalet and into the building area. Jeez! There just is information you do not need to know.
On the plusside it meant that we were not allowed to walk back to the chalet unguarded at night, but had to be followed by a ranger. Turned out not to be so bad after all...
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