itsmeitisss

I found myself with some time off and some miles and a GUF2 to burn and so was between going to Sydney and Cape Town. I got lots of good advice from the good people of BAEC FT and followed many of it.

We made good use of the CCR by arriving at the airport 3 hours before the flight. This gave plenty of time for us to have a drink or three and then a massage, and following that some late lunch in the CCR dining room.

I opted for the D'arenburg Wild Pixie, which was very pleasant, both on its own and with lunch. I had the soup, and the Burger which I have enjoyed both times I have been in CCR. I followed that with a reasonable treacle tart and ice cream accompanies by a sticky wine.

With 40 minutes to go until departure we head for B gates and boarded our 744 bound for CPT. Service was good we were looked after by an female Italian member of crew who was always attentive without us feeling crowded. Food was fairly good, but my memory has been spoiled by the very good food we ate in CPT. Wine drunk by me was the very good Graham Beck Ridge Shiraz. I did sample the claret after but returned to the Shiraz after.

It was a good even flight and we arrived in good time. Immigration was a breeze and we were met by a driver from our home from home for the next 9 days, Radisson Blu Waterfront. The driver gave us a good over view of the area, and we were at our hotel within 35 minutes.

The hotel itself was nicely situated, right by the water close to, but seperate from the touristy heart of the V & A Waterfront. We were allowed access to our room 5 hours early by the excellent management team, after having been given complimentary drinks on the terrace (we were offered breakfast FOC too, but as we had eaten a full breakfast on the plane we politely declined).

We were shown up to our room which was a junior suite, and was a good size with a sea facing balcony
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

The hotel wasn't the most luxurious I have stayed in, but service was fantastic throughout.... CONT'D

itsmeitisss

We spent the first day or two relaxing in the immediate area, catching the rays with a cold beer or two. There is something so relaxing about being sat on a sun lounger right next to the sea.

We did venture in to town that evening and had a good dinner at the jazz venue at the waterfront. My wife is not really a fan of jazz, but it was good for creating the mood.

We returned to the waterfront the next day to explore and also to take a boat trip. We were determined to take the first few days easy and we noticed immediately the very laid back feel everything had. The V&A Waterfront is indeed touristy, but it is a nice area just to drift around and to grab a few things that have been left at home, like sun cream etc! There are some reasonable views of Table Mountain with the tablecloth approaching

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

The food in the radisson is generally good but doesn't change at all, and it felt a little like a conference hotel. This doesn't detract from the service which was always excellent

itsmeitisss

On the day of our actual anniversary, we tried rather hopefully to get a table at La Colombe, thinking there would be no chance at all. The concierge, however told me that he had a friend working there and would see what he could do. We got a call within 30 minutes giving us an option of 2 times. We took the later of the two times and had what I can only describe as heaven on a plate. Both my wife and I have described the meal as one of the best meals we have ever eaten. Service was good, wine was good, as was the Constantia Blanc de Blancs. Portion sizes were smallish but the flavours were so well put together that we both felt very satisfied at the end.

Through the same concierge we had booked a few tours in the area, having not hired a car. The first tour that we did was the winelands tour. We were looking to do Stellenbosch, Paarl and Frankshoek in one day. This turned out to be very ambitious. We did 3 wineries in Stellenbosch (Zevenwacht, Kanonkop and Simonsig) as well as stopping at Spier to see the cheetahs. We also had an excellent lunch at Simonsig with excellent wine (6 of them!).

Lake and house at Zevenwacht:

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The cellar at Zevenwacht:

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we then headed on to the winery at Fairview, where we also tasted some of their cheese. Fairview is famous for the whole dispute over the "Goats do Roam". They have a number of different play on this including "Goats in Villages" and "The Goatfather" which is a supertuscan type blend. we tasted some of their own wines as well as their better in my view Spice Route wines, although in my view the last two reds of this type weren't quite ready.

The rainclouds were gathering and it broke in to a storm when we returned to the hotel:

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All in all a very good day with an excellent private guide who would be our guide for the following two days too. I think we tasted something like 30 wines, and bought a few to take home.

itsmeitisss

The following day we decided to take the Cape Tour, and we started by doing one of the 'must do' things: Table Mountain. It was a good day to do it as the mountain was clear of clouds and it wasn't as hot as the previous few days. Our guide drove us to the lift station and there wasn't too much of a queue.

It was a strange sensation to have the floor moving around as we were going up the mountain. The views were sensational from the top as the clouds started to come in.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

After the views of Table Mountain our guide drove us the full length of the cape, taking us via Chapman's Peak, which was a stunning drive. The views across Hout Bay were stunning:

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We continued down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, which felt very touristy, but was what we had expected. We had some lunch before we headed for Simonstown, and stopped off at Boulders Beach to see the penguins:

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

We then returned to the hotel, unfortunately unable to go to Kalk Bay because of the road works.

itsmeitisss

The next day we were back on the wine trail, and we headed back to Stellenbosch to sample some of Beyers Truter's wines at Beyerskloof. We tasted a wide range of wines including the excellent Synergy Cape blend, all of the Pinotages, including the excellent Diesel Pinotage with permission of Beyers himself (it's not usually allowed for tasting, and tasting here is free, whether you buy or not). All in all I ended up tasting some 9 wines at Beyerskloof including the interesting White Chenin/Pinotage blend.

We then made our way to Franshoek, and started off in Boschendal. The grounds of Boschendal are stunning:

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The tasting experience was underwhelming. We were given 6 wines to try, and just left with them. It was one of the few times we went and had no real interaction at all. The guy at Fairview sounded bored but at least he was there. The wine was ok, but nothing special. The Chardonnay was particularly insipid.

We then moved on to Graham Back's winery in Franshoek and tasted the tasted some excellent wines including Ridge Shiraz and also The Joshua which is a Shiraz/Viognier blend. A lovely wine (which I have ordered from SAwinesonline!). Good service here with the option to have a free tasting of 5 wines or pay a fee and taste more and better wines.

We then made our way to lunch at La Petite Ferme, and this was our view as we relaxed with an aperitif while our table was made ready:

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We had a good lunch - I felt that Simonsig was better, but it was still very good.

We then went on to our last winery, Seidelberg back in Paarl. The wines here were good and uncomplicated. There was a good atmosphere with live music and some good looking food. We then made our way back to our hotel saying goodbye to our excellent guide.

itsmeitisss

Our time in the Cape was all too short! We got to see dolphins from our balcony every day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59613609@N08/5450359843/

we had some stunning evening skies:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

We had a lovely dinner at Beluga on our final night, with my wife doing a fair impression of Meg Ryan in When Harry met Sally at the white chocolate begneits. We took a stroll back from there to the hotel reflecting on a fantastic few days.

To cap it all we managed to get NF on our journey back. Another good crew. One thing I would say though is that I didn't once use the toilets in F as they were constantly full of people from J. I had to wait for toilets and go further back as people at the front of CW were always creeping through the curtain.

We spent a long time in arrivals lounge and had some fairly good egg benedict in the CCR breakfast room.

Now when do I return to the fairest Cape?

Sixth Freedom

Thanks for the TR itsmeitisss. ^

I have not read it yet but will do so when the photos are showing. They are not visible on my computer at the moment. Just a heads up.

littlefish

Thanks for bringing back so many memories, lovely pictures and grateful for your description of the various wineries.
I really do need to book a Cape only trip sometime!

itsmeitisss

I clicked the right buttons on the board above the dialogue box. Wonder if they work if I just put the URL in the text:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5961360...n/photostream/

Sixth Freedom

I see three dolphins. Nice picture.

itsmeitisss

Have edited to show URL rather than the forum code....should be fine now but will open new window

FenLandK

itsmeitisss, if when you go into Flickr, you select the "Grab the HTML/BBCode" under "Share this", and then select the "BBCode" option, it should give you all you need to paste the pictures here, rather than just the URLs.

Hope that helps!

itsmeitisss

just tried that and it posts a link....could just be me being stupid...that's always an option!

Sixth Freedom

I am glad to see that you had a great time in South Africa istmeitisss. ^

Some of the scenery around there looks stunning. And I did not realise that penguins get as far north as South Africa. I thought that they were confined to Antarctica!

Lobengula

I'm looking forward to read the TR in a few hours ^ In the meanwhile, here is a guide how to make flickr pictures show in the thread:

Select "Grab the HTML/BBCode"

Select size, then copy the URL to the picture

Finally, in FT. Click the image button and paste the URL there. Done