Our last African stop - The Winelands of Cape Town

About an hours drive from the Waterfront is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been -  Franschhoek, tucked into the Cape Winelands in South Africa. The area is world renowned for their wine and culinary delights. Our last stop for 2 nights was at the Franschhoek Country House and Villas. We were in a luxury villa and it was absolutely wonderful. The entire grounds had a very French appeal to it and the decor was very Victorian. It was quiet, peaceful and so scenic with the mountains as the backdrop no matter what direction we turned. The town is small, very quaint, some would say a bit touristy but we loved it. It was a nice change from the crazy hustle and bustle of the city of Cape Town. We arrived shortly before check in at 2:00 pm so we walked around the town a bit and found a nice place for lunch called Taki's Place with great food and wine in a shaded outside garden.  We walked up and down the main tree-lined Huguenot Street, peeking in the galleries and antique shops that fill it.  It was something to just take in the scenery with the vineyards that were established more than 300 years ago cascading over the hills just outside town. On the edge of the town is The Huguenot Memorial Museum that honors the town's early settlers, who fled religious persecution in France.  We walked to the memorial but then back to the hotel and spent a few hours relaxing by the welcoming pool. It was a hot day! We didn't have the cool from the water as we did in Cape Town so the nice cool pool was a great treat!

The pool at the Franschhoek Country House and Villas

Church in town on the main street

Huguenot Street

We went back into town that evening (we were about 1.5k outside of town), relatively early, since we didn't have a reservation for dinner we thought we'd take our chances with a few places.  There are so many wonderful restaurants that we figured we would find something and we ended up at Kalfi's which couldn't have been better!  It was simple, eclectic, authentic, intimate, delicious and all around superb. 

Local wine

Saturday morning we enjoyed a marvelous breakfast at the Country House and Villas before going into Franschhoek to catch the Wine Tram for a little tour of the area and it's famous wine estates.  With the tram we could spend the entire day hopping on and off and visiting 5 wineries as well as the museum.  We only chose to go to 3 with the first estate being our favourite - Rickety Bridge - an 18th century winery and popular destination in the Winelands because of it's history and sophisticated tasting center.  Upon arrival from the rickety tram, we were picked up by a vintage, open-air, rickety truck and transported to the estate.  It was beautiful and the wines were tasty!  We made sure not to leave without asking about special shipping options to DE!

Rickety Bridge Wine Estate

We passed two of the wineries until we reached our next stop Dieu Donne - which is located high on the steep south west facing slopes of the Franschhoek Mountains.   It was quiet there but the staff was busy preparing the ROCA Restaurant for a huge NYE bash that evening.  We didn't like the wine as much but the ambiance and views from Dieu Donne were outstanding!

The tasting room at Dieu Donne

The last estate was the Haute Cabriére.  Steeped in history and local lore, this wine estate was originally granted to a French Huguenot farmer, Pierre Jourdan, in 1694 and has been part of the Franschhoek Valley for over 300 years.  In The Tasting Cellar we were offered a welcome drink but really they were kind of mad that we showed up as they too, were closing down to prepare for NYE!  Oh well, after our champagne we walked around outside because it was just too beautiful!

In the Haute Cabriere tasting cellar

Small lake next to Haute Cabriere

The restaurant is quite famous at the winery and we contemplated lunch but without a reservation we went back into town for a quick bite since it was the middle of the afternoon and we wanted to get in some more pool time on this very hot New Years Eve day before our fancy dinner at the Monneaux Restaurant right outside the door from our villa. 

 

The front steps of our villa lead right over to the Monneaux Restaurant

We had to make the reservation at Monneaux well in advance because as I mentioned, we were in the country's food and wine capital and it was NYE.  It was our last day of vacation in South Africa, our last day in the sun, our last delicious South African dinner!  We were bummed beyond belief.   After relaxing and packing we walked out our door around 7:30.  I wish we had time to take a look all through the restaurant because it is the original manor house on the property and the site of Franschhoek's first perfumery.  It was beautifully decorated as the rest of the grounds were.  There was one other couple in the room we were seated in, and low and behold they were from Pittsford, NY and Niagara Falls and knew exactly where we were originally from.  EVERY time we go someplace new we are amazed at how truly small the world really is!  We had a nice chat with them, sharing travel stores all the while enjoying more delicious wine, champagne and a delicious 5 star dinner.   It was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation.  We didn't wait for midnight or any ball to drop in any major city, we had a full day of travel back to Germany the next day so we toasted goodbye to 2012 and off to bed we went!

Our first breakfast of 2013 was back in the mountain view breakfast room where we sipped our coffee not wanting the time to end.  The travel wasn't too bad, long but not awful being in the same time zone (+1 hour) but worth every minute.  Going to South Africa was one of the most the most amazing vacation we have had to date.  We couldn't have done it without the help from Lianne at Go2Africa.  I am more than happy to share her email so please let me know if you are interested.  We'll go back.  We discussed it before we even left!

Wineland PICTURES.

Now onto 2013 adventures.  As long as we are in Germany our travels continue!