Day 11: Last stop - Cape Town!

After a last breakfast at Diamant Estate we packed our luggage (heavier by now…) and ouselves into the car and set off for our last destination Cape Town.

Leaving our rooms at Diamant Estate

We challenged ourselves by stopping at the Canal Walk mall in Century City. Joakim and I bought a new suitcase, mainly to replace a broken one at home, but also to get som more luggage space going home. Calle took the opportunity to get himself a new wallet, heavens know why… :)

The traffic going into town was quite busy, so we decided to go straight to Maison Fountain Blue, the bed & breakfast place we had booked.  Our host Denise gave us a heartily welcome; we unloaded the car and then got a taxi to go down town. We dropped Gun and Calle off at a ”Hop on Hop off” stop and continued to Loop Street were we had made an appointment with Riaan Kroukamp, senior consultant at Intergate Immigration. The purpose of the meeting was to find out more about how possible it would be for us to live and work in South Africa for a longer time. After the meeting we felt we had the received the solid information we need to continue our research from home. :)

New place, new view. From Avenue Fontainbleau in Fresnaye.

We decided to energize ourselves at the restaurant on the corner next to Intergate, which turned out to be a fantastic vegetarian place. What a coincident! We enjoyed tasty smoothies and wraps, which was very wise considering the long walk we were about to start. 

During the rest of the afternoon we walked through the downtown, all the way to V&A Waterfront. It took us about 1,5 hours. We decided to stay at the Waterfront and at 7PM Gun and Calle joined us. We went to a seafood restaurant that was full of people watching a rugby game. After a while a really good band started playing too, so we had a nice but kind of silent meal this evening.

Company Gardens downtown Cape Town.

Say hello to Cecil Rhodes!

V&A Waterfront

Day 10: Paarl and surroundings

Today we woke up to a cloudy morning and the temperature was also cooler. We started the day at the Taal monument, next to the Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve. The monument commemorates the Afrikaans language and can be spotted from almost anywhere in Paarl.

Apart from the monument Joakim and I had set our minds on a walk. We sent Gun and Calle off to a new vineyard, the Fairway Estate and found a circular walk that looked nice. As it turned out we had not made ourselves understood in the reception, so when we were going to enter the reserve through a gate we did not have the right key to open it. We walked back and were directed in a different way, but that circular walk was much shorter than the one we had planned to do. L Once we got back well ahead of our meeting time we bought ice tea and sat down among some 60 school children visiting the monument and made plans for our next few days in Cape Town. While doing so the weather cleared and the sun came out for the day.

Gun and Calle arrived and were very happy with their visit at Fairway, where they had tasted wine and goat cheese. We decided to drive to Stellenbosch for a visit at Spier – a vineyard and hotel complex where we stayed in 2014. 

We walked around the park, visited the craft market (an “off season” version compared to what we remembered), had tea/coffee in the garden and went for a last wine tasting. We tasted five wines and I did enjoy the Chenin Blanc and the Chardonnay/Pinot Noir (rosé). :)

After Spier we drove back to the Diamant Estate and rested, as wine tasting is a demanding vacation activity – at least for beginners like me. Despite this we actually visited yet another estate, Laborie, where Gun and Calle treated us for dinner at their restaurant called “Harvest at Laborie”. Again, a nice meal to close a nice day!

Day 9: Great delight in Franschhoek

We were all happy not to take off for a new destination when starting the day. Instead we could make plans for a full day in the Winelands. We chose to start in Franschhoek – a small town where the French Huguenots settled and brought their vines more than 300 years ago.

Our first stop was at “La Couronne” where we chose a combo tasting – wine and chocolate. We were the only visitors in the morning and enjoyed the time on their balcony. I had to taste every wine (five in total) twice; because Joakim was our selected driver for the day and was too embarrassed admitting that he only had a sip from each glass. The wines we tried were nice, but to be honest I cared more for the chocolates. J

Vines at La Couronne

After the tasting we decided to walk around the downtown area to catch the town spirit. However, we discovered that this part of the town was much too touristy.

On the other hand, the next stop was so much better – the Babylonstoren Estate, in between Franschhoek and Paarl. The restaurant owner in Swellendam had recommended us to visit this estate and our idea was to have our lunch there. We were lucky to get a table at the Babel Restaurant; a booking was referred to as “essential”. The food was fantastic; I believe this was my best lunch so far on the trip. I had Fish of the day (trout) with lightly pickled fruits. A large plate of veggies accompanied the meal, i.e. oven baked potatoes, pumpkin and steamed broccoli. Yum!

After this splendid food experience we continued our stay in the gardens. More or less any fruit, berry or vegetable grew there! It was really nice to stroll around and we were actually invited to pick and taste ripe fruits. I think we spent one hour exploring the many different sections. Before leaving we visited the farm shop were we bought bread, cheese and cold meats – realizing that we would not fancy a new hot meal in the evening.

We picked up fruit and drinks in Paarl on our way back to Diamant Estate, where we later had a light garden supper. A great way to end a perfect day!

Day 8: Destination Paarl

This morning was special. No breakfast was served at A Hiltop so we had to treat ourselves! We did this in the best way possible, meaning driving 20 minutes in the wrong direction to get to Organic Paradise in Suurbraak, a small place we had spotted along the road yesterday. It turned out to be an excellent detour.

We were welcomed by a guy our age who had been working in the film industry. He told us that he had bought the property in 1998, because he thought it was one of the most beautiful places in Western Cape. Suurbraak (meaning "sour ground") used to be part of "the Bantustan" or homeland (a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa as part of the policy of apartheid) and it wasn't until after 1994 that it became possible for white people to buy properties in those areas. The organic breakfast was fantastic and we enjoyed the conversation we had with our host just as much.

Then it was all ritual time again and we started driving towards Paarl, our destination for the day. At lunch time we stopped for a snack in a garden café in the tiny town Villiersdorp. From there we decided to drive straight to Paarl and do an early check-in at the Diamant Estate. We reached Paarl, driving through a new pass where the weather changed from grey to sunny weather, in the middle of the afternoon.



Joakim and Calle decided to go to Franschhoek Motor Museum, but Gun and I thought it was a great idea to stay and rest at the estate. :)

We finished the day at a great restaurant, Noop. The dinner there was just as excellent the breakfast this first day of our second week.

Day 7: Lots of Little Karoo

Breakfast is an usually interesting part of the day when one is staying at different B&B places! The one that was served to us by Dick and Carmen was one of the nicest we have had on our trip so far - despite fierce competition. ;)

Joakim, Calle and Gun enjoying breakfast at Saxe-Coburg Lodge.

The door to our suite closest to the camera.

We got back on the road more or less right away setting out for Oudtshoorn again, but this time by the main road. We made a short stop to see a waterfall, a stop that Regina recommended, but other than that we kept going and going all day. I'm actually getting a bit tired of riding the car, it strikes me even more once the weather outside is nice and sunny! ;(

Very straight road through Little Karoo...

Little Karoo is a semi desert region of Western Cape. The climate is very different from that of the Garden Route, and still it is no more than 30 km further inland. This is because the mountains act as a barrier to the weather moving inland. The landscape was fetching to begin with, but after a few hours of it I sort of lost the awe.

We reached Oudtshoorn before noon and continued straight west - having set our minds on eating what had been recorded (on TripAdvisor) as the world's best carrot cake, in the small town of Calitzdorp. :D We got there at lunchtime and did have soup/sallad before trying the cake. It was good, in any case worth the stop. (But I guess I would always stop anywhere for a piece of carrot cake, world famous or not!)

Home of the world's best carrot cake?

After Calitzdorp we continued through Little Karoo all the way to Swellendam, the 4th oldest town in South Africa. It is known for its more than 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape Dutch architecture. Here we stayed at "A Hilltop Country Retreat" where we found ourselves in a huge room including a kitchenette and bathroom. The best thing was the wifi that proved stable enough for a Skype chat with Vera, Vidar and my mother. :)

Towards the end of our day long ride the landscape turned more green again! :)

We then followed our dinner ritual and found a nice family restaurant downtown. It was the owner that waited on our table and he actually asked if we were Swedish (not German for once...). He told us that he receives a Swedish group once every week, stopping for a meal as part of group tour. This week he was expecting 27 Swedes to come and eat. We enjoyed our meal and shortly after the generous beds in our rooms!

Day 6: Traveling to Prins Albert

Today there was a major weather change again and the scenery from Hamilton Manor not half as stunning. ;( The rain rolled in as we were eating breakfast, which fortunately had been set in the dining room.

We left Knysna and drove nonstop to the Ostrich country and made a stop at a Farm Stall in Oudtshoorn. It appeared it was a place where the locals had their coffee after church service or had Sunday lunch. As it was still late morning we settled for coffee and scones - a perfect choice. We took our time and decided to opt for the Cango Caves a 30 min ride from the town.

The Cango caves are called the wonder of the Little Karoo and situated in a limeston ridge parallel to the Swartberg Mountains. We joined a guided tour and were truly amazed by the beautiful dripstone caverns, found in vast underground halls. Again, pictures won't do justice, but here are a few from the six chambers we visited anyway!

Stalactites, forming from the ceiling and down.

A combination of stalacmites and stalactites, where they meet in the middle.

A formation called the wedding chamber.

After our tour in the caves we headed to Prins Albert, driving through the Swartberg pass, at a height of 1600 meters. To do this we had to drive slowly on a gravel road, but it was all worth it! Once we had come over the pass the weather changed and we arrived to the tiny town of Prince Albert in the evening sun. 

Going up the Swartberg Pass, checking the vast views.

Protea, the name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes.

Going down towards Prins Albert.

Gun and Joakim outside of the "young couple suite" :) at the Saxe-Coburg Lodge.

There we stayed at the Saxe-Coburg Lodge where we were warmly welcomed in German by the hostess Regina and her South African husband Dick. Regina is of German origin and was a little disappointed realizing that we were Swedish. :) We also met their very nice daughter, Carmen, who helped us to a very nice suite in the backyard.

We had an early dinner at a gallery along the Main Street and closed the day reading and writing in our rooms.

Day 5: Enjoying Knysna

Today we had decided to visit the Featherbed National Park, a 15 min long boat ride from the terminal next to the Waterfront. We started out with a perfect breakfast on the porch at Hamilton Manor. 

A room with a view...

...at the Hamilton Manor in Knysna.

The ferry departure was at 11 AM, so we had a nice and slow morning. The weather was totally different from yesterday and it was quite warm already at the time we left Hamilton Manor. During the ferry ride the guide introduced us to Knysna, the lagoon and the islands in sort of an entertaining way. Right after disembarking the boat we got a ride up to the top of the west head. From there it was a 2,2 km walk back to the bottom. Gun and Calle chose to ride back, but Joakim and I joined the walk. The views along the path were outstanding! I did feel moved by the sight and sounds of the Indian Ocean. At one point we walked all the way down to the sea to see the caves that have been formed by the water. The pictures below won't do justice to our experience, but hopefully give an idea of the views along the walk.

Joakim enjoying the shade in the woods, first half of the walk.

Us above the Knysna mouth, the East head on the opposite side. According to our guide the Royal Navy judged it as the most dangerous harbor to enter in the world. It was therefore closed as a commercial harbor in 1954.

There is so much magnificence, near the ocean...

Two sea caves in Featherbed National Park.

The walk ended with a buffet lunch at the island restaurant and we were back in Knysna at 15.30 h. We were so enthused by the West head that we decided to take the car up to the East head as well. The sights from there were similar, but the drops even more steep.

We closed this spectacular day enjoying fish and seafood at a Portuguese restaurant at the Waterfront. Back in our room I fell asleep at the same moment my head touched the pillow of my bed...