Wineland photos

Here are some pictures from the excursion to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek yesterday.  Just for the record, bosch means forest and hoek means corner.  Franschhoek was established by the French Hugenots back in the 17th century and they brought their winemaking skills with them.

This is me at the Lanzerac Winery.

Do you why these people planted roses beside their grapes at this winery?

The set up for wine tasting at the La Motte winery.

Winelands Tour

My high school friend Sydney Dies Sur passed away last night.  Sydney and I lived three blocks from each other in Nashville and we went to school together for 16 years (Eakin, Cavert, West, and Vanderbilt/Peabody.  We were reaquainted in 2001 and I enjoyed her as she fought ovarian cancer valiantly and with such a positive attitude that it influenced my own attitude.  When I saw her two weeks ago, I told her to hang on and keep fighting and I will bring her back something from Africa.  She made her request and I have it in my possession.  I am trying to decide what to do with it.  Syd, will see you in the next life.

I did have an all day winelands tour today in the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek areas around Cape Town.  A word of advice.  Do not take your blood pressure medicine and then attend a wine tasting and THEN (this is important) go on a tour of the wine cellars.  No damage done but it was scary for a few minutes.

All in all, we went on three wine tastings.  Tasted chardonnay, cavernign blanc, cabernet sauvignon, pinotage, shiraz both with and without pairings with chocolate and cheese.  I don't believe any of the wineries distribute in the USA (Lanzerac, Anura, and La Motte).  I also had lunch (warthog burger and a Castle lager-as if I needed more alcohol) but the most interesting part of the day was the scenery.  These two towns are located 35-40 kilometers away from Cape Town in flat plains surrounded by mountains.  I will post pictures later.  It started out rainy, however, the sun came out as we returned to Cape Town and the weekend promises to be a winner.

Stay tuned.    

Kirstenbosch Gardens

These gardens celebrating their 100th birthday.  There are species in here that I have never seen before.  This was a terrific visual experience for me.

The Nelson Mandela Bird of Paradise.

The Protea is the National flower of South Africa, however, does not bloom at this time of the year.

Cape of Good Hope

Cape Town has 4.5 million people, much bigger than I had suspected.  However, it includes all of the Cape Peninsula.

The Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point of Africa (although Vasco da Gama did in the 15th century.  Another Portuguese seaman actually named it nine years later.

 Fried Goat Cheese

Fried calamari

May 2 Cape of Good Hope Day

May 2, 2013  This place is looking better to me all of the time.  When I woke up this morning, it was overcast and raining.  It looked like the day might be a bust.  By the time Mervyn (our guide) had picked up the other six people and had made our way to Camps Bay, the sun was shining.  Our destination was the Cape Peninsula and the pinnacle The Cape of Good Hope.  It was an all day adventure and we made several stops along the way.The stops included Houts Bay, the Penguin rookery at Simon's Town, the Cape Point where we took the funicular to the end (top), the Cape of Good Hope, and then Kirstenbosch Gardens.  At the Cape Point we had a very nice seafood lunch and I had fried calamari and a starter of fried goat cheese (it was really good).  We had people from the middle east (on their honeymoon), Scotland, and a couple of ladies from Maryland who were on their way to a relief camp.

Here are some photos to enjoy.

Cape Town is good eating.

The last of the pictures

Castle of Good Hope at Cape Town

More pictures of Cape Town

Me at the CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE.