Our Last Full Day in South Africa - Exploring Stellenbosch

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I discovered too late as I am writing this, I should have been recording our knowledgeable guide, Ben. As I look back on our trip I struggle to remember all the names and places, but here goes.

We started the day by stopping at one of several "picture frames" in Cape Town that provide a scenic view inside. This one frames Table Mountain, our first planned stop of the day. From there we traveled with hundreds of others to the cable car station to ride to the top of Table Mountain. The wind that prevailed the past two days, stopped the cable cars and now everyone was making up for lost time. Fortunately for us, Ben was able to secure tickets quickly and gain quick access to the cable car. I am not sure how he worked the magic, but it was truly appreciated by these senior citizens. At the top he filled us in with history and geography of the area. Early, we had introduced Ben to geocaching and he was soon headed for a geocache he had determined was up on the mountain. Sure enough he and Fred were soon opening a large box full of travel bugs. After exploring the top of Table Mountain, we headed back down in the revolving cable car to continue on to Stellenbosch an area of wineries and Stellenbosch University.

Not being big wine drinkers our stops at wineries were to enjoy the art work, scenery, or to enjoy some coffee and cheese cake. The Graff Winery is full of beautiful works of art with scenic mountain backdrops. We did do a wine tasting here, and came away with a bottle of wine.

Along the way we stopped at a little antique/souvenir shopped and picked up a few small things to bring back.

As the sun was setting we headed off for dinner with Ben and his lovely wife, Elna.

Tomorrow we begin our long journey home, but first Ben will show us a few other sights of the Cape Town area.

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