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Published: December 25th 2008
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It was an early start on Christmas Eve for breakfast before heading down to Port Elizabeth airport for our flight back to Cape Town.
We were slightly behind schedule leaving the hotel for the 70km drive to the airport (after the grand opening of the golden sack and me providing G with extra things to go in the 3 tightly packed suitcases) so G was a little stressed as we had no idea where the airport was - it didn’t seem to be on the Port Elizabeth map we had!
However, my navigation skills were exemplary (and G drove at the speed limit all the way!) and we arrived at the airport about 50 minutes after leaving the hotel - ahead of schedule!
After handing back the car, we headed for check in with our 3 cases and 2 hand luggage bags(- we both made the effort to ensure that these looked light as a feather even though they were stuffed full to bursting). There was no queue so it was straight to the check in desk and we were asked to put all 3 cases on the scales - this was a bit of a squeeze - and the check
in girl said in astonishment that we had over 60kg (10kg more than what we came with!). I chirped in that they were full of presents (for the sympathy vote) and she suggested we took the small one off. This showed us as 7kg over and she agreed to charge us for this but let the small case through for free - woohoo!
After check in, I headed out for some last minute sun before heading through to our flight. The plane was tiny, however the flight was fairly smooth.
After landing, we headed in to arrivals and our bags were there in super quick time - just as I emerged from the toilet! We therefore headed straight for the hire car (the guy once again was amazed at my detailed on the hands and knees check) and were out of the airport complete with car and baggage within 35 minutes of landing.
We started our journey to Franschoek, however decided to take a detour via Paarl (one of the other famous wine growing villages) in search of my infamous Ega. After a rigorous google search, we thought we had located the wineyard - but its website made no mention
of the Ega, however, we decided to try our luck anyway.
We found the vineyard relatively easily and G was delighted to see that it was doing wine tasting that day. He was even happier when he realised that the vineyard was connected with the farm beside it and also did cheese tasting! I reminded G about the priorities of the day so we headed straight for the shop and found the Ega - woohoo! I quickly set about purchasing 10 bottles (G was quickly trying to work out where in the case these would go - I think the answer is the new case!). G suggested that we wait until we were ready to go before purchasing, however after quickly realising that his tasting would be all the more relaxed without me worrying that they would run out of Ega, we set about our purchase and carried them to the car.
Afterwards we headed back in to the cellar and G set about his 6 tastings. As he was driving, he only had a few sips of each - homer would be gutted at the amount that went in to the spittoon bucket! He found 2 favourites however and
purchased these to take home (I wonder where these will fit!). He then headed for the cheese tasting and liked each and every one. He settled however on buying only the goats cheese with tomato and basil crust.
The winery also had a little restaurant so we headed there and had a lovely Panini with fresh cheese from the farm and shared a bottle of ega, which we finished on the lawn after lunch.
After this, we headed towards Franschoek, stopping on the way through to book dinner at the Pizzeria in the village - we had heard good reviews about this place - and they were right! After we arrived at our hotel (which again is lovely - very white and minimalist, as I like them) I headed for the sunloungers by the pool while G opened the cases before the zips popped open!
After a quick change, we headed out for early dinner and had lovely pizza - I think the waiter was amazed at all the toppings we had! We sat outside for our pizza as it was still warm and thought how different this is to our usual Pizza Express on Christmas Eve in Glasgow!
After
dinner, we headed back to the hotel for G to sample some local wines before heading off to bed to finish the santa film just in time for Christmas.
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