BootsnAll Travel Network



Wine and Food

Day 42

Once again we were off like a heard of turtles this morning. It wasn’t much before noon before the gang was together and we headed east once again. As I eluded to in yesterday’s blog, today is wine day.

The primary wine making land in the Western Cape runs from Constantia, which is ten minutes from our house, all the way to Paarl which is 200 km northeast. In between the major wine making towns are Stellenbosch (also a small University town) and Franshoek, which is more a village than a town.

Carl took the lead today and we navigated a route that would see us heading far south of the wine district and coming back at it from the south through a series of spectacular mountain passes. The long way to be certain but worth every extra kilometer. These drives in the Western Cape are events all by themselves so we didn’t mind the extra hours in our Opel go-cart.

The oohs and aahs began immediately after we pulled off the highway and started into the mountains. Not only is this wine country but apple country as well. Apple orchards cover the mountains everywhere in this region. The South African’s make some very good hard apple cider with these apples, unfortunately we didn’t nip into any of this today.

We stopped a number of times to pull out the camera and capture the amazing landscape. Once we stopped because baboons blocked our way. Beyond the commercial motivation of carrying our camera around the world, I am so pleased that even if we do not sell a thing, we will have some amazing images to look at and remember this trip with.

Franshoek, translates to French Corner in Afrikaans. It was settled by, guess who? The French silly. They do know good wine land when they see it. I felt as if I were in a small French village in the mountains. I have also been to Napa and felt as if I could be there too.

Carl had a number of places in mind to visit, but since the clock was unwinding faster than we had hoped we settled on one. Moreson winery was a few kilometers outside of the village itself down a long dirt road. A cluster of white Cape Dutch buildings were nestled in between a vineyard on one side and a citrus orchid on the other. Marvelous. They had a table on their terrace set and waiting for us as we walked into their restaurant. Great service considering that we had only called them ten minutes prior to arriving.

When we sat down, we intended on eating a light lunch, as we had plans to eat at a famous Indian restaurant back in Cape Town only a few hours later. Once we opened the menu and spoke with the staff, we forgot those plans. We ordered two antipasto plates with bread. Simple enough and light enough, except for the fact that the platters were full of a dozen different dried meats, olives, bread, yoghurt cheese balls and rocket salad. Thinking this would not be enough we also ordered a stuff focacia loaf that Joan had read was a must to try. The food was a delight. Each piece of salami, dried duck breast, olive, whatever was superlative in it’s own right. All of this great food was washed down with a good bottle of red wine the lunch saw the clock accelerate towards the back side of the afternoon before we finally got up to walk the fifty feet to the wine tasting center. The reason we had come all this way in the first place.

The Morenson wines were very good and the lady from the winery that was pouring us glasses for tasting was very nice. Considering that we had to drive back to Cape Town and attack another meal soon, we didn’t go overboard at the tasting. Everyone got to taste a few varieties including the kids. We did end up buying a bottle of champagne (sorry, sparkling wine for my French friends) that was outstanding and cost only $7.50, Connor’s favorite and he approved of the choice. Very nice.

While we tasted, the kids ventured out into the lemon trees with a bag that the winery gave them to pick very large and juicy lemons. The picking season is now over and they encouraged the kids to pick and take home whatever they wanted. They really enjoyed running around amongst the trees and they picked many more lemons than we could ever use. Being the entrepreneurs that we are teaching them to become, they were giddy with plans to sell them when we have a down day in Hout Bay.

Carl and Joan headed back to Cape Town two hours before us in order to make a spa appointment, so we split up and drove to Stellenbosch. We didn’t expect to stop and see anything but we wanted to get a feel for the area for our next trip out this way. We like Stellenbosch but prefer the small quaint feeling of Franshoek better. The wine that this region is producing is world class and a real jewel of an industry for South Africa.

We arrived in Cape Town with almost an hour and a half to kill before our dinner reservations at Bukhara, a famous Indian restaurant in town. To take up the extra time we drove up the side of Table Mountain, to the base of the cable car. The cable car is for those less adventurous or physically unable (I give credit to the later only) who want to make the ascent to the table top without walking. The view even from the base of the cable car is great and still halfway up the mountain-side. We sat in our car here for almost an hour as we waited for the sun to set. Getting a great night shot of Cape Town is a must and this vantage point is perfect. When the light was right, or gone in this instance, I pulled out the tri-pod and shot a series of panoramic shots that had the shutter open for over twenty seconds at a time. Like I said, it was dark.

Armed with great new night shots of the city, we descended back down into said city to find Bukhara. It was harder to find than we expected but we arrived on time in the end. Carl and Joan finally arrived after getting lost again, and calling for directions, again. Dinner lived up to the hype if not beyond. Everything was done to perfection. I have had a lot of Indian food in my day, much of it in India itself, but cannot remember having anything this good. With no room left in my stomach to eat when I sat down at the table, I found myself in a Thanksgiving, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, mode and dove in. We rolled out two hours later and ten pounds heavier. An outstanding meal. One of the top two of the entire trip.

Another day with Carl and Joan complete. They leave tomorrow. Carl back to work in Johannesburg and Joan to Louisiana. It has been great seeing them both, we have enjoyed sharing some of our touring together. What we won’t miss the budget killing prices associated with all the great meals we have had together. We have done well on the budget front for the entire trip but have spent too much on food in the past few days. No worries, all worth it and we can always eat pancakes and sandwiches for a few days to get back on track.



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