Winelands

We are now into the Winelands area on the map.

Franschoek is billed both as the food and wine capital of SA and as its most beautiful town, and it all might be true. The main street is a bit touristy with lots of arts and craft stores, real estate agencies and restaurants. The setting is phenomenal with the vineyards all around and dramatic mountains behind them. The town was settled and became a wine region due to the immigration of Huguenots (French protestants) who fled Catholic oppression in the 1600's and 1700's and brought their wine making skills to SA. On the way here we went through the Huguenot Tunnel, (3.9 km long) and at the end of main street there is a big Huguenot monument.

Our B&B host, an ex-Scottish, ex-Jo-burg business man who retired with his wife to Franschoek suggested that we try a restaurant called BOCA at the Dieu Donne Vineyards. It is up on the mountainside and overlooks the valley. We had a wonderful experience starting with champagne and tapas on the terrace then a great dinner at a table by the window inside. The pics of the mountains are taken at sunset and then in the morning from the terrace.

We also were fortunate to be here on Saturday when they have a farmers/crafts market.

In the morning we moved on to Stellenbosch, a much larger town with a university, colleges and a culinary institute. Can you imagine the happy students here! There are many wineries, a lot of them more self-contained resorts with hotels, conference centers and wedding sites. We are not that far from Cape Town and it apparently is a very attractive option to come out here for events rather than stay in the city. We had a wine tasting at one and also visited Spier Vineyards that includes a Cheetah rescue operation. Cheetahs are much more endangered than Lions or Leopards because they tend to come in conflict with farmers more. They are beautiful cats. You can pay to go in the pens and pet them, have your pictures taken with them but our timing wasn't right.

We had a very nice dinner at the Apprentice restaurant, run by the local Institute of Culinary Arts. Unfortunately we were one of only 3 tables.