"South Africa"

Capetown April 15-17, 2009

Thursday we were once again up bright and early for another day of sightseeing organized by Chris, we were becoming quite spoiled and overwhelmed with the Aucamps incredible hospitality. Our amiable tour guide drove us to our first stop, one of the many wineries in the country, Spier. It was a vast establishment which also served as a hotel and restaurant. The grounds were immaculate and the old "Cape Dutch" style of building with its thatched roof, white walls and beamed interiors were extremely well preserved. The restaurant, "Moyo", was an open style with individual tables for dining set amongst the trees and even up in the trees. Fabulous! Another attraction of Spier was the Cheetah Rehabilitation Center which had 14 cheetah on grounds that were very accessible to the public even offering the opportunity for one-on-one contact with them. They were very beautiful and powerful.

Our next stop was a wine tour at Bergkelder. This was an extensive tour through the facility showing the process and bottling of wine as well as a tour of the grounds. While we waited for our tour to begin, we has a private sampling at the bar accompanied with a delicious cheese selection. Our tour guide had a vast knowledge of her profession and was quite entertaining. Tasting occurred in the caves which had thousands of bottles stacked against the walls and everywhere was lit with candles. We sampled two white wines which were quite good and three red. We decided that our favorite was a local grape, a 2007 Pinotage. We ended up purchasing two bottles to bring home as well as four other bottles (two merlot to add to Chris's collection and two blends)

After our visit to the Bergkelder Winery we had a quick tour of the 'University' town of Stellenbosch with its varied examples of early Dutch and English homes and buildings. We had lunch at a restaurant recommended by Chris called the Hillcrest Berry Orchard on an outside terrace....Awesome food and view. We then headed off to the Haute Cabriere Winery for yet another tasting.

We left the Stellenbosch area and headed to Franschhoek an incredibly beautiful area at the base of, and in the corner of, several mountains. It was originally called "Elephant Corner" as when first settled, it had a herd of over 200 elephants and is now a popular agriculture area with rolling hills, Cape-Dutch farm houses and the mountains in every direction as a backdrop. The winery has some common known wines but specializes in a champagne-type grape. After a tour of their vineyard, we were treated to the traditional way of uncorking the bottle: the foil is removed and the metal cage loosened. Then, with a large sabre-type sword, a quick swoop upwards on the bottle and against the neck of the cork, the entire top of the bottle explodes off....very impressive! Richard decided he would become master of this technique for the future. Of course, after the tasting, we purchased two bottles of champagne method produced wine.

After a browse through the boutique stores in the village and a quick stop at the Drakenstein Prison to take in a bit of history (this is the prison Nelson Mandella was eventually released from) we returned home to find Erna had again prepared another delicious African meal. This evening we enjoyed Lamb Potjie and decided, not only did we have to return home with one of the Aucamps employees who had our laundry freshly done and ironed on our beds daily, we would also need Erna as her culinary skills had become legend.

Today was a leisurely day with pool time until Erna took us to her favorite salon where we were treated to top quality care. We each had our hair done in South African style in which your hair is washed as you are lying in a massage chair and at the same time you are given a scalp massage by the stylist. Afterwards you are given a complete neck and shoulder massage before the stylist cuts your hair. Very decadent.

We returned home and opened one of the bottles of merlot we had purchased while we waited for Chris to return from work. We all then headed out for supper to the restaurant "Bosa Nova", a local steak house. Hors d'oeuvres were a mixture of sushi, spring rolls and chili pops which we enjoyed while trying to decide a steak from the extensive assortment. Wendy had an "avocado brie" while Richard had a local favorite in which the steak was accompanied with "Monkey Gland Sauce". He seemed a little taken aback when the waiter asked him if he would like the sauce from a live monkey or not (Chris had set him up!). It is actually a mixture of onion, tomato puree, chutney and wine....no monkeys involved...That set the tone for the evening and we had a fabulous time, drank wayyyyy too much and did so much laughing our stomachs ached listening to Richard practice the Afrikaaner language. It was not hard to all crash into bed when we returned home.

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