Getting Schnookered in Franschoek

Franschoek is in the heart of South African wine country. It is an endlessly adorable town, surrounded by mountains on almost all sides, with a main street lined with shops and cafes.

Franschoek's main street

Of course, the main attraction is the wineries. As we learned while we were in Cape Town, South African wine is quite good, so we were looking forward to tasting some at the source. We had been wine tasting in the United States before, but no where as beautiful as Franschoek.

Our first winery was Vrede en Lust – roughly translated from Dutch into Peace and Passion. They sat us on our own section of their veranda to take us in the fabulous views, and brought us a variety of wines to taste. Our current lives are very tough, I know.

Our first winery - Vrede en Lust

We then had lunch at Dieu Dionne Winery, which also has a microbrewery. There, too, the views are amazing.

View from lunch at Dieu Dionne Winery

Dieu Dionne Winery vineyards

After lunch, we already had quite a buzz, but it was still early…so why not go to another tasting? We stopped by the Rickety Bridge Winery. At Vrede en Lust, they had given us 1 ounce samples, which was more than enough to taste the wines. At the Rickety Bridge, we practically got whole glasses. By the end, all the wines were tasting delicious.

When we arrived back at our guesthouse, I had trouble opening the front door. I assure you, this is from my natural inability to open locks, and had nothing to do with the amount of wine consumed. The owner came to open the door, and looked at us with amusement. She asked us where we were dining that night. When we told her that we were planning on going to Allora, an Italian restaurant recommended by the host at Rickety Bridge, she looked REALLY amused. Oh, right, Allora, she said, with a knowing smile. The restaurant where they pick you up and take you home! (This is true – they really do!) I am sure she thought we were three sheets to the wind…which, if I am being completely honest, was not entirely untrue.

The crazy part is that all of the tastings are free.  (Or, as my high school economics teacher Mr. Bender would say, there is no such thing as free, because in our tipsy state, we purchased two bottles).

The wines we purchased and consumed at Kruger - Vrede en Lust Syrah and Rickety Bridge Shiraz

Needless to say, we really enjoyed Franschoek. It is only about an hour and a half from Cape Town, and is a great place to spend a few days relaxing. We’ll definitely keep our eye out for South African wines in the future, particularly the reds.

Cape Point: the Animal Edition

Cape Point was our first experience with South African animals. We saw animals we had never seen in the wild before.  We saw penguins waddling around in Simon’s Town, who, by the way, are the most super cutest things ever.

We pulled over to photograph wild baboons on the side of the road playing under a sign warning us of their danger. We later learned that baboons are the nemesis of South Africans – they often break into people’s houses, eat their food, and wreck their house – but the baby baboons looked so playful and harmless.

On our way out of the Cape of Good Hope National Park, we saw an ostrich family walking along the road, doing what ostriches do: sticking their heads in the ground.

Scenes from Cape Point

One of the highlights of Cape Town is not in Cape Town itself, but on Cape Point, the peninsula that juts into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  I loved both of the day trips we spent exploring Cape Point.  The scenery on Cape Point is amazing: beaches, cliffs, mountains, wild flowers.

We hiked up to the lighthouse on Cape Point for amazing views, and stood at the southwestern-most point of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope.

I saw a guesthouse at which I want to stay if I am ever on Cape Point again.

Each day we visited, we ate lunch at a different farm and craft village, where we drank local wine, ate organic food, and soaked up the sunshine.  It was late August – the equivalent of late March at home – and spring was in the air.

All of this, not to mention all of the animals we saw…coming soon!

Table Mountain and the Mother City

“During the many years of incarceration on Robben Island, we
often looked across Table Mountain at its magnificent silhouette…
To us on Robben Island, Table Mountain was a beacon of hope. It
represented the mainland to which we knew we would one day return.”
– Nelson Mandela

When I think back to our time in Cape Town, Table Mountain dominates my memories much the same way that it dominates Cape Town’s sky line. It cradles the city and protects it, while it rises above the city and inspires.

View of Table Mountain from Robben Island - the island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in incarceration

You can catch glimpses of Table Mountain from many neighborhoods in town. It is not off in the distance; its presence is immediate. Its flat top is often covered with a thick fog, which Cape Townians dubbed the “tablecloth.”

View of Cape Town from the plane

View from town

You can tell that Cape Town residents are proud of their mountain; everyone we met asked us if we had gone to the top yet. A couple of days after we arrived, we took the revolving cable car up to the top, adding it to the list of mountains we have summited in our lifetime. (Yes, our definition of summit is very liberal; don’t judge us). We spent a few hours exploring the mountain’s flat top and peeking over the sides to see the city and ocean below.

Cable car going down with view of Signal Hill in the background

One of the many gorgeous views from the top

Sean and me at the top, with a view of Green Point Stadium, which was built for the World Cup, and the neighborhood of Green Point, which is where we stayed.

Cape Town’s position of being nestled between Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean, not to mention its cosmopolitan restaurants, shops and cafes or its temperate climate (it was supposed to be winter while we were there, for crying out loud!) makes Cape Town definitely live up to its hype.

Cape Town Sunset…

…over the Atlantic Ocean.

Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa

Happy Sunday and Go Steelers! No listening to the game this week for us – we’re in South Korea now, which means the game will happen at 2:00 a.m. our time.