South Africa Trip Report, Day 5: Wine Country

May 25, 2016, Wednesday:

Cape region is renowned wine country. We don’t drink but were keen to drive around the scenic wine region. It was a little difficult to put together a plan for the day because we did not know if a non drinker could visit wine estates.

Our plan came off very well.

We heard about the artisan chocolate tasting at De Villiers, Paarl and thought it would be great for our day. We started off on highway N1 and reached the scenic Taal monument in an hour

Afrikaans Language Monument (Taal monument)

The Afrikaans Language Monument is located on a hill overlooking Paarl, Western Cape Province. Built to help strengthen Afrikaners' identity and pride in their language. 

The monument consists of various tapering structures, symbolising influences of different languages and cultures on Afrikaans: western languages like Dutch, German, English, other African languages as well as Malay have had their influence and Afrikaans serves as bridge between the West and Africa

The views from up are worth a visit alone. Table Mountain stands in the distance, whilst the Stellenbosch Mountains lie to the south and the Hottentots Holland Mountains to the east. 

There is a nice fountain and a tall tower and we spent some time enjoying the ambience

Spice route

Then we drove toward the Spice route. Reached Fairview and admired the goats in their tower. 

This is Bird of Paradise flower, also called crane flower

Artisan chocolate tasting at De Villiers, Paarl

Then it was a short drive to De Villiers. We opted for the self tasting menu R20 each, but a docent accompanied us , explaining the 7 chocolates on offer. We enjoyed the tasting and bought some for our personal use later.

We watched chocolate making thru glass doors… chocolate coating of berries.

Bird of Paradise flower again...

It was an excellent start to the day. We entered an artist’s studio next and looked around at the paintings. We bought a souvenir t-shirt there. We wanted to buy caps for ourselves as we had lost ours the previous day. We could not trace the shop and so decided to leave for our next port. There was a glass studio there which we had wanted to visit but we were on our way.

Delaire Graff wine estate

Delaire Graff wine estate was our next halt. We had heard the staff can be snooty.

The security guy at the entrance said “How may I help you?”

We were not there for wine tasting like everybody else, so I said “We are here for a drive by and want to visit your boutique shops”.

He said “Welcome” and waved us in. After parking the car, we could see there was a reception straight ahead where wine tastings should probably be booked. 

A valet approached, we said “We’d like to see the estate first”. “This way, please” he said and gestured. 

We walked and saw the plantations, their spa and lodge area and enjoyed the various statues outdoor.

We wished they had some grapes/grape juice tasting/sale for non drinkers like us!!

Then we got in to our car and left. The staff had been extra polite despite the reviews to the contrary! 

Tokara wine estate

We went to Tokara wine estate next. We had planned that we’ll have their cheese and olive oil tasting but they said they don’t have cheese tasting. We looked around the pretty estate and left.

Franschoek motor museum

We made our way to Franschoek motor museum.

 Johann Rupert, the owner of the museum is the chairman of a luxury goods company based in Switzerland and is the 2^nd richest man in SA with a net worth of $ 7.9 billion.

http://www.fmm.co.za/ is the museum site.

Before starting our tour we had our lunch in our car and feasted on the fantastic display of cars! We left around 4 pm.

The museum’s collection exceeds 220 vehicles – ranging from a 1898 Beeston motor tricycle to a 2003 Ferrari Enzo supercar – and more than 80 exhibits are on view at any one time, displayed in four de-humidified halls with a total floor area of 2700 m², and presented in chronological order:

I thought all classy old cars are vintage but here’s the classification:

ANTIQUE – built before 31 December 1904

VETERAN – built between 1 January 1905 and 31 December 1918

VINTAGE – built between 1 January 1919 and 31 December 1930

POST-VINTAGE – built between 1 January 1931 and 31 December 1945

POST-45 – built between 1 January 1946 and 31 December 1960

POST-60 – built after 1 January 1961.

Totally awesome display and each is accompanied with info boards.

There is TV display of these cars in motion too.

We were on the Helshoogte Pass, one of the loveliest roads in the Western Cape, linking Stellenbosch with the Drakenstein Valley, a scenic pass that transports one over the saddle that separates Simonsberg from the Jonkershoekberge and wends its way past fruit farms and vineyards en route.

Stellenbosch botanical gardens

We made our way to Stellenbosch botanical gardens. They had already locked up the Bonsai section, we had a quick look at the rest of the garden and a peep at the Bonsai thru grills. 

Mooiberge farmstall

Then we took N2 stopping on the way at Mooiberge farmstall. We had been fascinated by the scare crows we had seen in pics and thought it’ll be a good place to buy some dry fruits/nuts etc.

When we reached the place, there was a strong stench of urine and we did not want to linger. The sun was already setting and we made our way back to Cape town

It had been a very satisfying day with scenic drives and the motor museum was the icing on the cake.

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-kruger.html

covers our days at the AWESOME Kruger national park

Our Videos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296532356706742930

covers Stellenbosch 1: Taal monument, Devilliers artisan chocolate tasting

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296529460121388178

covers Stellenbosch 2: Delaire graff wine estate, Tokara wine estate, Franschhoek motor museum