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Published: February 28th 2016
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We continue to explore some smaller communities, that are day trips from Gordon's Bay. Wellington is about 45 minutes away and features a couple of large distilleries and quite a few wineries. Debra stopped someone in a shopping mall to ask directions and found out he was from New York City. He married a girl from the area and they are now trying to decide where to live, New York or Wellington. Quite a contrast between the two.
Greyton which is about 1 hours drive has a feel similar to Niagara on the Lake. There are lots of restaurants and shops along Main Street and on Saturday there was a small market featuring, once again, all kinds of yummy foods. We ended up having a very tasty Pizza for lunch and on the way out, stopped into a local chocolate shop which has gained quite a good reputation. Needless to say, we had a nice chat with the owner, who happens to be an accountant that found the chocolate business a lot more exciting. He imports the chocolate blocks form Europe and has a small processing plant where he does the tempering and packaging. Of course we bought a few
bars and found they were almost a good as Ganong!
On the way to Greyton, there is a small mission town called Genandendal. It was one of the first missions in South Africa and was founded in 1738 by a German Moravian missionery named Georg Schmidt. The buildings were quite well preserved and it was nestled in amongst some very large baobab trees. It is now a museum and historical settlement. I found it had a very peacefull feel to the setting.
Debra and I have begun to play golf more regularly although it has been difficult to find days where the temperature is tolerable. We did manage an outing with Michel and Elmire from Holland who are guests of Highcliffe House. The golf courses are busy this time of year as many Europeans vacation in this area so this is peak demand for tee times. Many will return home at the end of February, so it will become a little quieter in March.
It has been very enjoyable for us socially. Our friends Harry and Susan often include us in their outings to some wineries for wonderful lunches, ie. Deimersfontein in Wellington, Ruste en Vrede in
Stellenbosch, and their friends Nicole and Guy invited us to back to their place in Jonkershoek nature reserve for a very relaxing Sunday Braii(barbeque). Also, our hosts, Jane and Jim, took us along for dinner at Southie's where they had a special dinner pairing with a local winery. The wine maker, who attended, provided an overview of the characteristics of the various wines served with the 3 course meal.
For Valentines Day, Jane and Jim made a very tasty Paella (spanish dish with lots of seafood, chicken, sausage, rice etc). Later in the week, we had very enjoyable lunch with one of our neighbors from Niagara on the Lake, Moyra and Bill McEachern, who have been touring around South African and have settled in for a month at Kalks Bay which is fairly close to us. To cap the week off, 5 couples, (including David and Gillian who are new arrivals to Highcliffew House from Ireland) went to Dornier winery for Tapas
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Barbara Coster
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Hey Travelers
It sounds as though you are making a significant dent in the South African wine supply…well done! I love hearing about your locale. All is we'll in NOTL…crazy temperature swings from -10 to +15 this week. Enjoy your weeks ahead with more time on the golf courses! Cheers!