Blogs from Western Cape, South Africa, Africa

After one last breakfast in Cape Town, we checked out of the hotel and waited for Ben to pick us up for a quick drive in the morning before heading to the airport for the long flight home. Ben took us for a drive around False Bay to the town of Stand and Gordon's Bay. Driving high above the bay, we had a beautiful view of False Bay the the surrounding area. We headed back down to town we passed the church where Ben and his wife, Elna were married and the many white sandy beaches. Once in town we stopped for one last coffee with Ben before heading to the airport. As we drove back to the airport we passed South Africa's movie studio with a variety backlot sets. At the airport we said our ... read more

After breakfast, we set out with Ben to drive the Cape Peninsula. We first drove along the Chapman Peak Road which winds along the mountains edge and was subject to rock slides and wash out, so with much engineering the road is usually in passable conditions. The weather was sunny, but the wind was howling making taking photos a challenge. We drove by coastal towns and bays along the way. Hout Bay gave us sights of the harbor the mountains of the Table Mountain Range. Finally reaching Chapman's Peak the views were nice giving us a look south toward Cape Point and the Kommetjie Lighthouse. With the strong wind we passed many wind surfers along the way taking advantage of the conditions. We stopped at a "shop" along the way where many beautiful works of art ... read more

For our wine tasting experience, we headed towards the cape winelands via the N1 Highway, the first section of the famed Cape to Cairo Road. Our destination was the cities of Paarl, Franschhoek, and Stellenbosch, and selected vineyards in each of these locations. Paarl is the third oldest city of European settlement, and the largest town in the cape winelands. Paarl gained international attention when, on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Correctional Centre in Paarl ending his 27 years of imprisonment. Today, a bronze statue of Mandela stands outside the prison. Franschhoek, which translates as “French Corner”, was established in the late 17th century as French Huguenot refugees settled in the area. They are credited with the development of the wine industry in South Africa, and producing wines that were sought ... read more

Isn't life gorgeous?? Hope you are hanging there in this world that may have just re-opened...but that is facing the worst disease us travelers are fighting, I call hyper-inflation! So let see if we can make 2022 even better than 2021....after all, we all survived a crazy world, so let's try to get the best of it! Inflation is at work here in South Africa too...but due to the lack of international travelers, if you are a good hunter, this place is actually better than anything you'll find in North America, Europe or currently the few places open in Asia. So be smart...and come down under...the Africa way! I'm finally getting myself up to date with blogging! Impressive isn't it...well....maybe our own schedule pushed me...we are back on a long flight this Friday...and it's only the ... read more

South Africa has some of the best wines in the world and when I visited Cape Town in summer (better their winter) 2019 I had to go on a wine tour. Since I was on my own I booked a tour through a website called Viator, which I usually used when booking tours on my travels. The tour I chose hit a few wineries in Franschhoek, Paarl and Stellenbosh. It was a full day tour and the driver picked everyone up from their hotel. Only three other people joined the tour which was nice, as we all got to know each other a but better. At the first winery our guide gave us a tour of the wine cellar and a little bit of history on how the wines were made. Most of these wineries are ... read more