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Published: August 20th 2010
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On Thursday Jason and I took a tour of the Western Cape winelands region. The Western Cape region has been producing wines for around 350 years. We visited three different wineries near the cities of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl. Our first winery was the Fairview winery. Here we got to sample 7 different wines as well as cheeses they produced that were paired with each wine. The winery was beautiful and had some funny looking goats outside that we got to watch.
Our second winery was the Tokara winery. It is a much younger winery, having only been producing wines for about ten years. Here I sampled about 3 or 4 different types of wine as well as a brandy they make there. This winery had a beautiful view of the countryside and we were able to see Table Mountain from their tasting room.
From here we went into the town of Stellenbosch and got to roam around for a bit and enjoy lunch. The town was really nice and reminded me a lot of Nassau St. in Princeton. At this point our tour guide had offered us a choice about what we wanted to do. We could either
visit one winery and have a wine and chocolate tasting or we could visit a winery that also has a cheetah reserve and have a "cheetah encounter." Naturally, we all chose the cheetah encounter. So we proceeded to the Spier winery where we sampled 4 different wines and a champagne (although they're not allowed to call it champagne because it is not produced in Champagne) but it's the same thing. At this point Jason and I had each sampled about 15 different wines (and they were healthy samples) as well as an additional glass of wine we enjoyed with lunch. We weren't drunk but it probably wouldn't have been prudent for us to drive a car. Of course, if we can't drive then the next best thing is to get into a cage with a cheetah. So that's exactly what we did. For a small fee we were able to go into the cage with a trainer and actually pet a fully grown, adult male cheetah. It was pretty much asleep the entire time we pet it but it was just amazing to actually be next to it and to pet it. Cheetas are never an animal that I would
ever expect to have an up close encounter with so this has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far.
For dinner last night we went back to Mama Afrika with a friend we made on our tours this week. We enjoyed some more great food as well as the live band that was playing. Jason and I have already decided we'll probably be going back there for dinner again before we leave.
Today was one of our two free days in Cape Town. We slept in to catch up on sleep and then wandered around town to get some shopping done. We spent most of the day wandering around town and we each got some souvenirs for ourselves as well as some things to take home for others.
Currently we don't know what our agenda will be for tomorrow but we should know shortly. Shark diving was supposed to be scheduled for tomorrow but due to the possibility of gale force winds it was cancelled. We're currently working through our agent here in South Africa as well as NYC to figure out what the hell is going on with our scheduling. Needless to
Photo 15
This one was a little over a year old. Not the one we pet. say, Jason and I are not too happy to hear that diving was cancelled. It should be rescheduled but right now it is at the mercy of the weather. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes as planned and you'll hear about it in my next post. Enjoy the photos!
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