SouthAfricaCapeTown

Delheim Winery, also in Stellenbosch area on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, was our next winery stop. This farm had a different feel as we walked down the well-groomed paths, paid our tasting fee and headed to the cellar. We each paid for five tastings which is supposed to give you enough samples of the different wines you are interested in. We all like wine but we do not know enough to make any educated choices, so we asked our hostess to take care of us. Meanwhile, there is a very aggressive cat harassing Kim, the only one of us who is highly allergic to cats. Our hostess explains that cats are attracted to the very people who least want them because of body language. When people don't like cats, they squint their eyes looking cat- like thus attracting the cat. This is what the lady said who sips wine all day for a living. Our taste buds may have all ready been spoiled because none of us liked the wine from the Delheim farm with the exception of Karen and Kim who had a large tasting of the hot spiced red wine. Tasting costs nine rand for your choice of five tastings and you get to keep your specially engraved wine glass. Great atmosphere and we heard the lunch was also very good. Hopefully, next year's wine crop will be a little better. http://www.delheim.com

This year Stellenbosch celebrates the 27th anniversary of it wine tasting route. It represents a long tradition of wine making started by Dutch settlers in 1679. The Stellenbosch wine region produces many quality red and white wines -- Blanc De Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardoney, Sauvignon, Blanc De Noir, Shiraz Blanc, Reisling, Merlot, Zinfandel, etc. The wine route has 29 cellars and numerous restaurants - very fun and relaxed.

The town of Stellenbosch developed from a colony of settlers who had been granted land on the Eerste River around 1679. The valley is very fertile and well suited to agriculture. The Dutch East Indian company intended that produce grown here would supply ships en-route to and from the West Indies. Enough of the history stuff it is time to find a place to sleep tonight. Kim got a recommendation from our hostess at Delheim and we attempt to navigate to guest house row. We got a tour of a small college town with Cape Dutch historical buildings, rows of oak trees and the 12,000 students at the University of Stellenbosch.

Kim was stuck with her nose in the guidebook trying to help Ed navigate the one-way streets of Stellenbosch. The six of us had been in the car all day and we kept finding ourselves going around in circles. Keith who was riding in the back put his foot down and demanded that Ed pull over. Keith's timing was excellent because we pulled into The Eendracht. It is a recently renovated old house from the early 1800's. We landed a rate of 220 Rand a night which got us the perfect bedroom, complete with bed linens that equaled or surpassed those from the Ralph Polo collection. A quick unloading of luggage and we are off for the Lanzerac Vineyard and Hotel for sundowners. The estate turns out to be a beautiful, rather exclusive, Cape Dutch style hotel. The pub has a huge fire place and the dining room is amazing -- what a place for romantic dining.

Then our mealtime dilemma begins. Kim is looking through the guidebook for another dining experience. A dining experience differs from just eating because it usually takes a couple of hours to complete your meal and is usually expensive. The budget section of the Lonely Planet did not waste any print space on dining experience restaurants. This led us on a wild goose chase around town with no luck. This caused some internal conflict in the venture and we decided to head back to the hotel and ask for a recommendation. To the Weinhaus -- just what we were looking for. A smart, but not stuffy atmosphere, filled with diners. In fact we had about a one hour wait for a table. The bar/waiting room was setup as living rooms with huge couches, plants and a large screen TV. No one was in a hurry and the entire dining experience lasted three hours before we got to bed. We had more indulging to do tomorrow. E-mail for The Eendracht Guesthouse lutzkor@iafrica.com

With the girls planning a morning of shopping the boys managed to get permission for a round of golf. We had strict orders to be back by 12:00 because we had a 1:30 reservation at the Boschendal Winery. The place is famous for their buffet and even Lonely Planet said it is a must do. The only problem for the traditional backpacker is that smart dress is required; a collared shirt, dress pants and dress shoes. These items are not found in a normal backpack. Ed had not done any laundry so Kim was required to purchase him a pair of pants for lunch. She returned with a groovy pair of black corduroy pants that did not do a lot for Ed. It seems that Ed was traumatized as a kid about corduroy and it still haunts him today.

The Boschendal Winery is between the Stellenbosch and Franschoek regions and is touted as the most beautiful of all the Cape wineries. We were not disappointed. The buildings, grounds and setting are perfect. The weather is sunny and cool and the boys were hungry. The buffet lunch at 85 Rand a person is a splurge at $15 a person but well worth it. There are sections setup for salad, quiche, smoked fish, hot entrees, vegetables, cheese and fruits and the final killer dessert area. This of course is complemented by the excellent wines. It would be safe to say that the six of us have had the chance to eat in some very good restaurants but this place just became king of the hill. The food was beyond excellent, the wine superb and we all had to many desserts. Somehow we managed to walk out the restaurant just far enough until one-by-one we began collapsing on the perfectly manicured lawn. This is more popularly referred to as a food coma. We regained our strength, loaded up the girls for a short drive to more wine tasting.



The boys lasted through the first round but the girls were just getting started. The wine here was definitely the best so far. Ed was the first causality and reentered his food coma on the front lawn. Following such excellent leadership and seeing the girls did not care, Keith and I soon followed. It is winter here, the vineyards have been pruned back to the roots and the trees are waiting for spring to arrive. I can only imagine how beautiful this place must be in full bloom. We managed to catch the girls before they entered into their third round of tasting. Karen had picked out her favorites -- The 96 Reisling, 97 Le Bouquet, and the 97 Chenin Blanc. The whole afternoon was just brilliant.

We are heading to our final stop of Cape Town on the great South Africa tour. Kim had organized lodging through a contact/client at work. But first we opted for the scenic drive along the coast. Back to Gordon's Bay, Simon Town, Fish Hoek, Kalk Bay, Muizenburg, False Bay, Kommetjie, Nordhoek and the final 10K drive referred to as Chapman's Peak drive. This has got to be one of the world's greatest scenic drives. The roads are excellent and hug the cliffs without an inch to spare. The road planners did a great job putting in scenic viewing areas allowing you to catch a setting sun or whales playing in the ocean. The drive delivers us to the beautiful beach of Camp's Bay with the Twelve Apostles and Table Mountain in the background.

The Place on the Bay is the hotel/timeshare where we would stay for the next three nights. It is located across the street from the beach and boasts itself as a five star resort. They did not have an elevator so we were curios how they could have five stars. The place is very nice and offers all the amenities for relaxing on the ocean. Karen and I see the opportunity to sit on the couch and watch TV, something we have not been able to do for the last six months. The rest of the crew see the opportunity to hit the town running. They try and talk us in to a night on the town but we wouldn't budge. The next morning Karen and I were very glad to see that we stayed home. They started out in Camp's Bay at the trendy night spot called Baraza. Somebody had the idea of drinking a shot called a flatliner which has Vodka, Tabasco Sauce and Sambucca. After they had a couple of these they found courage to head to downtown Cape Town for some clubbing. They ended up at some seedy places called Hard Rocks, Broncs and Angels. They had signs that required you to leave your weapons at the door and the best partying was going on in the bathrooms!

More nature loving today with a drive to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point where the warm Indian Ocean meets the cold Atlantic. The first stop is the Boulders, an area of coves and large boulders which is home for a couple hundred Jackass Penguins. They keep us entertained walking back and forth from the ocean to the dunes. This place is a national park so the penguins are protected. The experience of Penguin watching is enhanced because they allow you to go on the beach and sit with them. They walk back and forth playing in the water, minding the very ugly baby penguins and posing for pictures with the tourists. This will be the closest you will ever get to wild Penguins.

The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve is our next stop -- it is one peninsula with two points called the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The flatliner crew is trying to find the strength to eat food and the energy for another return trip to the bathroom. It appears the Tabasco Sauce in the flatliners has a lingering effect which requires a close proximity to a bathroom. Keith coins the term "Brew Flu" for the symptoms Kris seems to be suffering from. We order big lunches at the Homestead Restaurant located at the top of Cape Point. The facilities at the National Parks in South Africa are world class and they should be commended for preserving the natural beauty of the area, yet still provide first class services for the visitor.

The Cape of Good Hope has a baboon problem and they have signs everywhere warning you not to feed or play with the baboons. They run in large packs and will grab anything left around. The first trouble makers had a large bag of garbage on the roof and were ripping it to shreds. They seemed to take pleasure in tossing the trash in the air to be carried off by the wind. Our walk to the Cape Point found baboon shit everywhere and it is not a pleasant smell. On our return we found a tourist who made the mistake of setting down her telephoto lens for her camera. A baboon thought this must be a food container because he grabbed it and sat on a rock tearing it open with his teeth. She was hoping he would get board and leave it but I think he will add it to his camera collection.

We made it to the parking lot with a new found respect of steering clear of baboons. They followed us to the parking lot and we decided to make a run for it. We managed to get safely in the van before the attack began. Their target was an Official Nature Reserve truck that had an emergency light on the top. I take it these baboons have been chased by the law before and have grown to hate anybody in a uniform or official looking trucks. They jumped up on the truck with baboon hysteria and began to shit all over it. They were letting everybody know who was boss around here. Please follow the rules at National Parks and whatever you do, "Do not feed the baboons" your life may depend on it.

We put distance between us and the baboons with a short drive to the actual Cape of Good Hope. On our drive we saw an Ostrich, Dolphins and a Cape Fur Seal. The girls were ready to shop and we stopped at a tourist flea market on the outside of the National Park. They had an odd collection of local crafts. The entire event lasted an hour and numerous items were purchased. Every attempt at haggling on the price was met with "Sorry that is my lowest price." Later in town, we found better quality stuff at a cheaper price. A tourist and his money are soon parted. We headed back to Camp's Bay for a little rest and relaxation.

One of our rooms had a broken hot water heater and when we returned we found our stuff had been moved to a new room. The new room was identical and housekeeping went to the trouble of placing all of our junk in the exact location we left it. After all this place is supposed to be five stars. Tonight we stayed in Camps Bay for cocktails at Ninos and Dinner at Blues. Somehow Ed managed to talk us in to going to a bar called Fez in downtown Cape Town. He knew exactly were it was and it would only take five minutes to get there. An hour later we were still lost and ready to go home. We persevered and after asking numerous directions we found it. The place was empty and nothing was happening. Little did we know that in Cape Town nobody goes out on Thursday night. The big nights are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

It is tourist trap day and the day begins at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It is a large mall complex on the water and has a little bit of everything. From your Hard Rock Cafe to Woolworths. It is also the sight of the soon to be bombed Planet Hollywood. It is very well done and it continues to be a working harbor. Once again our main goal was food and our destination was a place called Nandos a chicken restaurant chain in South Africa. The guys at Honeyguide Safari raved about the chicken and made us promise we would try it. It is actually a Portuguese style restaurant and the chicken was good but nothing that would compete with Boston's or Kenny Rogers in the States.

It was a little cold and windy outside and we felt the aquarium would be a good stop over. We have all been to numerous aquariums and were very impressed with this one. They had a sea kelp tank filled with large sharks, numerous fish species and rays swimming in circles. The sea lion tank was my favorite. You could get next to the tank and watch them swim by with amazing speed and agility. They would never stop long enough for a picture until the baby showed up. A young couple wheeled their infant daughter down to the glass for the picture. Mom held the baby up to the glass for a view of the sea lions. One sea lion stopped in his tracks and just stared at the baby. It was like they were talking at some level that none of the adults could hear. This continued on for at least a half hour and I was fascinated by the protective and curios nature of the sea lion. If only we could figure out how to talk or listen to our friends in the animal kingdom. I also learned that the dog was a direct descendant of the whale. That is what the sign said in the whale exhibit. Who knew?



A trip to Cape Town without a ride to the top of Table Mountain would be like going to New York and not seeing the Statue of Liberty. We decided not to hike to the top which takes two hours but settled for a round trip ticket on the cable car. We strolled around the top, taking in all the views of Cape Town. Tomorrow Karen and I would be alone again because the crew was flying back to Florida. This meant another night on the town. We returned to Baraza for the night and consumed plenty of food, and drinks such as Castle Beer, Flatliners, Grapetizer and Vodka, Red Bull and Vodka, Hunters Alcohol Cider -- just to name a few.

With one day left Ed wanted to do some tow-in-surfing and the girls wanted to go horseback riding. I wanted to stay home and work on the computer; I mean sleep-in. Ed did not get a chance to surf the big waves but the Kumholtz sisters got in a good day of riding. They arrived about 30 minutes early which meant they could play with the local hounds and pick out the horse they wanted to ride. They saddled up on Tatiana, Belladonna, and My Girl for some expert level riding. These horses are used for giving advance lessons and do not fall into the sedate trail horse walking mode. After a short walk through a small neighborhood they hit the beach in full canter. All the girls could do is hang on. It is surprising how strenuous hanging on is because every muscle Karen and Kris owned was sore for three days.

The time for departure was coming near and we wished everyone could join us on our next stop. We had no idea were we would go next but we knew we would stay in Africa. We liked Cape Town so much that we hung out for another two weeks and did absolutely nothing. We had a nice place to stay and the weather was perfect.