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Published: February 12th 2018
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There is little to update on the drought conditions, other than “day zero” has been moved back to May 11th from April 12th, mostly a result of the conservation efforts and release of some additional water into the reserves. Restrictions have been reduced to 50 litres/day/person which is manageable, but not easy!
It has been a busy week beginning with lunch at Delaire Graff winery with Susan and Harry. Delaire Graff is owned by luxury jeweller, Laurence Graff the founder of the high end Graff jewellry stores out of London. The complex includes a hotel, 2 restaurants and the winery which overlooks one of the most picturesque part of the Western Cape!! It is difficult to get a reservation and Susan booked our table at least 6 weeks in advance. Laurence Graff is quite an art collector and in the lobby is a painting, “Chinese lady” by Vladimir Tretchikoff valued at $1,000,000 US. (Wouldn’t be my cup of Chinese tea).
After golf on Wednesday at Kleimond, our first time there, we were off to Cape Town for a couple of days. There is a new museum open at the waterfront, the Zeitz that is getting rave reviews and is
contained in converted grain silos. The Architectural design of the facility is fantastic and Toronto waterfront officials should take note as it would be a very creative use of the eyesores that protrude from the shores of lake Ontario. The Zeitz facility, although called a museum, is really a collection of contemporary art and since we are more renaissance people, it wasn’t really to our taste.
We were at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town the last time in South Africa and on this trip, enjoyed another play called King Kong. It was a musical that told the story of a famous fighter in the 50’s whose life descended from a professional peak to tragedy. The music, singing and dancing were superb. The Fugard Theatre is a very a comfortable small venue seating appx 300 people. The tickets were $26.00 CDN and it’s hard to believe they can make any money!!! To some degree it may be a reflection of how much the performers are paid?
Before the play, we stumbled across a Portugese restaurant, Dias Tavern. What a gem! The food was excellent and great value. It was far from fancy with seating similar to some of
the Canadian Legions and included plastic patio furniture chairs. As a starter Dana had 3 barbecued sardines which were yummy (although not as good as our friends in Toronto, Maria and Herman who are originally from Portugal and have served us sardines at their place that were the best ever). Dias Tavern is an example of the same ole story, some of the best places are off the beaten track!!!
The next day, we met up with Luba and Warren, neighbours from Niagara on the Lake. They were on a 30 ++ day Oceania Cruise out of Cape Town. It’s such a small world! Last year we met them in Brisbane Australia. After a tour of Robben’s Island (we have been there before and included it in earlier blogs), we had a nice lunch at the V&A Waterfront before they headed out to their next port of call, Port Elizabeth. Upon saying goodbye to Luba and Warren, we headed out of Capetown around 4:00 P.M. and were reminded of the similarity of major cities around the world. It took us over an hour to get out of rush hour that turned a nomal 1 hour ++ drive to Gordon’s
Bay into 2 1/2 hours of extreme patience!!! Felt like being in Toronto!!!!
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Diane Cranston
non-member comment
Hello
Hi Dana and Debbie. Love reading your travel blogs!! Does bring back lots of memories of our our trip to S.A. We are heading to Hawaii in a few days for two weeks. The weather here has been so cold, we desperately need to escape. Getting excited for FRANCE, and being together with the gang. Have a good holiday and see you soon. Diane and Ken