12
Mar
South Africa Day Four
Today, we were supposed to go to Table Mountain to see the views and unique plant species that live there, but the weather was bad, so we tried plan B, a walking tour of Capetown, followed by a traditional Cape Malay lunch at a restaurant on the top of Signal Hill.
Capetown architecture is an eclectic mash of Colonial, and gothic nouveau. The town’s heart is the Company Garden, the site of the original settlers’ vegetable gardens, remade into a proper English Garden when the British swooped in, and is now a type of city center park, not unlike Luxembourg, Central, Balboa, Golden Gate or Hyde.
We walked through a craft market, where I bought several trinkets for family and staff, 
and then went to the Pan-African market, an indoor version of the same thing, with better quality goods and higher prices. Prices in these markets are suggested prices, and you are expected to haggle, with the eventual selling price being about 55% of original asking price. It’s all a fun game, with commerce being more of an art than the way we do it in the States.
After a short walking tour through the 
Company Garden, we piled into the bus for a trip up Signal Hill to lunch at the Noon Gun Tea Room. 
Cape Malay cuisine is an amalgam of Indonesian with a touch of Indian and British thrown in. There were papadam, samosa, and curries, all considerably less spicy than you’d find in an Indian or Indonesian restaurant at home.
The views from the restaurant were fantastic.
Then we went to Stellenbosch for an hour of shopping and exploring this quaint colonial shopping town. 
I strolled with a colleague from Alabama, and we visited an old church and wandered by many upscale shops.
We piled back into the bus and went to 
Franschoek Valley for a tour and tasting at Neil Ellis. 
Neil Ellis is a partnership between the pioneering South African winemaker and farmer Hans Shroeder (Jose Conde’s father in law and the owner/designer of the lovely Cape-Japanese home we lunched in on day two).
The setting for the winery is the same as at Stark Conde, only slightly further down the Jonkershoek Valley. 
Neil makes great cabernets, and very very good Syrahs, Cabernets and Sauvignon Blancs. 
The tasting room overlooks an ornamental pond and is surrounded by towering crags.
After the tasting, we went outside to enjoy the view while dinner was being prepared.
The dinner was held in the barrel room, and it was all dimly lit by candle chandeliers. The buffet meal included grilled ostrich (tastes like a leaner, more flavorful beef, and magnums of Neil’s 2002 cabernet!
Then it was back to the bus for the trip back to the Oude Paarl, and bed.
powered by