Our Final Adventure: Stellenbosch

Breakfast at Mont Rochelle was sublime and we certainly indulged since we were facing a grueling day of wine tasting.  In addition to the cold buffet, Devon enjoyed a cheese soufflé and Rob had a breakfast burrito.  We were then on our way to Stellenbosch with Roger, our driver and soon-to-be friend.  Roger described how Stellenbosch was named by the town's founder, Simon Van Der Stel, after himself.  The humble guy named the nearby Simon's Town and mountain of Simon's Peak after himself as well.

 

Our first stop would be the De Toren Private Cellar.  Recommended by some dear friends who happen to be friends of the owners, they don't have an open tasting room and require a tour arranged in advance.  We weren't above name-dropping and were able to squeeze into a private tour.  We met Emil, the owner, outside of his facility and learned about the attention to detail and precision with which he cares for his grapes. 

 

 

 

 As we went further along in the tour, we could see that Emil was a next-level kind of perfectionist.  He preferred gravity to pumps and methods in the best interest of the wine as opposed to the highest profits.

 

He referenced his Extreme Wines several times.  The Black Lion and Book XVII are small productions wine made with no expense spared.  Amongst the more expensive wines produced in South Africa, they retail in country for about $2,500 Rand ($175).

 

When we finally made it to the tasting room, Emil opened the three (non-extreme) wines that De Toren produces.  La Jeunesse Delicate was their entry-level red wine and it was very pleasant.  But the real magic happened when he poured the two red Bourdeaux-style blends, "Z" and Fusion V.  The wines were ethereal and the best we had tasted to that point.  We savored every sip and were very sad to finish the glass.  In talking with Emil after the tasting, we were thankful to learn that De Toren is available for sale in the US. 

 

After such a challenging morning it was time for lunch.  Thankfully, the spectacular Delaire Graffe Wine Estate was just down the road.  We had an excellent Thai lunch at their Indochine Restaurant (we both ordered the prawn curry) and then headed down the path to their wine tasting facility.

 

Just outside of the Delaire Graff Tasting Facility

 

While the wines were good, they were not on the same level as the De Toren.

 

Our next stop was Roger's choice, the Warwick Wine Estate.  While the wines were nice (some were fine and some were very good) and the tasting area was very pleasant overlooking a lake, the reason why Roger brought us there was the story of the wedding cup on the Warwick logo. It can be read here.

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive back to Franschoek, we had the opportunity to have a great chat with Roger.  He was a Xhosa and grew up in the East Cape state of South Africa.  Like many others, he was very open about his life adventures and the differences between apartheid and post-apartheid life.  He was just as curious about our life in Hawaii as we were about his and we really enjoyed the time with him. 

 

We said goodbye to Roger back at Mont Rochelle.  We changed for dinner and headed off to the Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate,  Our last dinner in South Africa was nothing if not an adventure.  The seven-course meal was sometimes challenging and sometimes sublime but, all in all, a great experience when paired with the exceptional blends from the winery. 

 

After our short drive back to the hotel, it was hard to come to terms with the fact that our trip had come to an end.  We'd set out to have the trip of a lifetime and Southern Africa delivered much more than just the memories of a great vacation.  We started our married lives in a special way that we'll treasure forever.  Along with that we met true friends, had incredible experiences, ate and drank like royalty and learned a lot about a fascinating part of the world.  We feel fortunate that we had the opportunity to travel to such a remarkable place and when it's all said and done, we wouldn't change a thing.

 

When the time finally came to board the plane and leave Africa, we knew that we'd be back someday.

Kirstenbosch and Franschhoek

On our final morning in Cape Town (after one last bountiful breakfast at Cape Grace) Jerome took us to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens.  Because we were headed to Franschhoek at mid-day, we only had a short time, to visit, but it was worthy of at least a half day of wandering around (next time).

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting at the foot of Table Mountain, this 100-year old garden was built to preserve the unique flowers and plants of South Africa.

 

 

 

We enjoyed several areas of Kirstenbosch such as the Fragrance Garden, the Useful Plants display, the protea grove and the tree canopy tour.

 

And the views of Table Mountain in the background were excellent as well.

 

 

After Jerome picked us up, we drove back to Cape Grace, grabbed our things and set off towards Franschhoek.  Colin was our driver, and like many South Africans that we met, he was open and engaging about his life story and the changing dynamics of life in the country.  He shared the history of the different areas that we drove through and gave us some great wine and food recommendations. 

 

We arrived at the wine country estate known as Mont Rochelle.  After checking in, we had lunch in their country kitchen and sampled several of their estate-labeled wines.  Because it was already so late in the day, we decided that we'd stick to local Franschhoek (French Corner in Dutch) wineries.

 

Views from our suite at Mont Rochelle



 

 

After lunch we headed to the lovely Grande Provence estate and experienced tasting their wines in their elaborate wine tasting room.  We really enjoyed both their red and white blends.

 

From Grand Provence, we visited our last winery called Rickety Bridge.  While it was much less fancy than Mont Rochelle and Grande Provence, we found their wines to be easy-drinking and approachable and the staff was very friendly.

 

We headed back to Mont Rochelle after the 3rd winery and rested up before dinner at Miko, the signature restaurant of the estate.  Over excellent local wines, Devon enjoyed white fish and Rob had roast impala.  After dessert, we rolled ourselves back into the room and got ready for bed.  The next day would be our final day in South Africa and we wanted to make sure that we made the most of it.

Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope and the Orlando Pirates

While we've been reluctant to write about it as a part of this blog, race and racism are a fundamental part of the story of South Africa.  As we met South Africans over the course of our travels, we were surprised with their honesty regarding apartheid and the post-apartheid era.  To condense it in a sentence: not a single person living in South Africa was not impacted in 1994, when the country's first free elections were held and Nelson Mandela was elected the first president of the Republic of South Africa.

 

Our 2nd full day in Cape Town would give us an opportunity to learn more about Mandela as we would be visiting Robben Island.  While today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, it was once a prison for political prisoners and Nelson Mandela was kept there for 18 of his 27 years of captivity. 

 

After another luxurious breakfast at Cape Grace, we walked to the Robben Island Museum on the  Waterfront and boarded the first ferry to the island.  We took some photos of Cape Town from the water on our 45 minute journey.

 

 

Arriving at Robben Island, we departed the boat and walked to the prison compound.  Our tour guide walked us through the prison into one of the dormitories.

 

He revealed to us that he, and the other tour guides at Robben Island, were all once kept there as political prisoners.  It certainly caught everyone's attention as he told us which was his bed in the impossibly small cell where over 30 men were held.

 

He then took us to a hallway with individual cells, being sure to point out the one where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years.

 

After that part of the tour was completed, we boarded a bus to drive around the island and see the other sites.

 

The old graveyard.

 

The lone church, which is still used by the island's residents.

 

The school, also still active.

 

Jackass Penguins (because of the sound that they make)

 

Table Mountain from Robben Island

 

The prison, as viewed from the pier.

 

Pictures of Robben Island and Cape Town on our journey back to the mainland.

 

The World Cup Soccer Stadium

 

The Visitor's Center at the top of Table Mountain

 

 

We walked back to Cape Grace and enjoyed a quick lunch in the Library.  As usual, the service and food were excellent.  We then hired a car to take us to the Cape of Good Hope.  Our driver, Jerome, was an incredible guy.  A former professional soccer player (he was a Kaizer Chief in JoBurg as well as an MLS player in the US) we had a great conversation with him on the 90 minute drive down the Cape.  The scenery along the water was absolutely spectacular.

 

 

 

The Cape of Good Hope is where the Indian and Atlantic ocean's meet at the southern-most point of Africa.

 

We saw baboons all over the place on the trail to the lighthouse.

 

On our way back to Cape Town we stopped at famous Boulder's Beach, which was more remarkable for the Jackass Penguins than the boulders themselves.

 

As we were nearing Cape Grace, Jerome got a call from a friend asking him if he wanted tickets to the soccer match (they say soccer in South Africa as opposed to Football) between the Orlando Pirates from JoBurg and the Ajax Cape Town Football Club.  As Jerome couldn't go, he offered the tickets to us...for free.  It was such a kind gesture, and such a unique opportunity to experience something new, that we readily accepted. 

 

The stadium seemed very empty at first, but a few minutes before the match started seemingly every seat in the lower sections were filled. 

 

The game was great and the fans were very passionate on both sides.  Even though the visitors won, we were grateful for the opportunity to attend and see the similarities and differences between South African and American sports fans. 

 

Back at Cape Grace, the dining room was closed so we had dinner once again in the library.  We'd been given a bottle of wine from the hotel as a present for our honeymoon and it turned out to be an exceptional one: a 1999 Fleur du Cap Pinotage.  Amazing. 

 

It was fitting end to our third, and final night in Cape Town.  In the morning, we'd be visiting the Kirstenbosch botanical garden before heading to Franschhoek in the South African wine country for the final two nights of our trip.