Wine and Dine

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Well, Good Evening!

I'm here in the sitting room of the Bonne Esperance where books crowd the shelves, there is a chess table and piano to my left, a furnace on the wall in front of me, and complimentary vino atop the piano. Need I say I feel classy and extremely relaxed at the moment? I think Josh is still enjoying his late afternoon nap in the room, so I know he is at least feeling relaxed 😊 What got us to these points? Now now, don't get antsy. Allow me to begin from yesterday morning as that's where I believe Josh ended your update thus far.

After our breakfast yesterday, we set out the vineyard, Boekenhoutskloof. Josh had purchased a bottle of wine in the states previously from this vineyard so he thought it would be especially cool to see it in person...and it was. The proprietor encouraged us to roam the vineyard, so we obliged and ended up getting a wine-making 101 course on the spot in the field. After, we tasted a few types of wine, some rand and product were exchanged, and we were off yet again. After a short drive and some time spent at the Huguenot monument, we found ourselves at Postcard Cafe. The name is really spot on as the views were nothing short of scenery you may find on a...hm, postcard, yes. The rest of the day involved an afternoon nap, waking up to it raining outside, reading, journaling, playing chess, and being as chill as possible. But as nice as the day was, it was time for some adventure, so we said bring it!

And brought it we did with a 20 kilometer mountain bike ride and wine tour around Stellenbosch today. This was so fun! (and intense) William, our guide, took us through actually a pretty brutal mountain biking route as we took in the views, culture, and all the wine info we could. We stopped along the road as we tried olives and grapes right off the vine! William told us about the wine process in pretty great detail, including the biological processes that happen, the farming techniques used, and the ecology of the area. I loved it. We stopped at two different wineries where we learned even more and tasted several different types. Our final stop was at one of the top brandy distilleries in the world. I wasn't quite as interested in the brandy, but it was still a neat experience as we tasted a 20 year old brandy - apparently, that's the good stuff.

Tomorrow we make our way back to Cape Town for our final two days in South Africa... NooOoOOooOOooO!!

-Brady =D

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Photos

Biking!
Such beautiful views. We could see all of Stellenbosch and all the way to Cape Town and even Cape Point!!

Comments

[Lois]

Beautiful!
So excited you guys went on this trip! It is so beautiful!