South Africa (Cape Town)- Day 12- This Little Piggy Went To Market

Last partial day in Cape Town! We planned a super lowkey day to end the vacation on a relaxing note before our marathon trip home.  One of the things we were excited to do in Cape Town was to check out the NeighborGoods Market that happens in the Old Biscuit Mill space on Saturdays. Definitely our kind of place full of all sorts of food vendors (biltong, sweets, sandwiches, pizzas, dim sum, kebabs, etc), artisans and crafts (clothing, jewelry, leather goods & more).  It was definitely one of the perks to staying in the DoubleTree in Woodstock since it is so close to our hotel.  Had a really great time relaxing, checking things out, and eating (surprise...) and then came back to the hotel to finish packing before we leave.

Hard to believe the trip is over, but what an amazing one it was! Flight at 6 from Capetown to Joburg, then flying from Joburg to Amsterdam starting at 11pm, then Amsterdam to DC at noon tomorrow... phew! Will not be the easiest travel for sure, but there is no question that is absolutely 100% worth every minute of it. Fingers crossed for more safaris and time in South Africa in the future:)

South Africa (Cape Town)- Day 11- Sippin' In Stellenbosch

Now for one of our favorite days on each of our big trips—wine tour day! As per usual, Brennan did a ton of research up front and found some places he was really excited to try.  So we remember what we had for later cellar-stocking, I included a full list of the wines we tasted on the trip below, but I’ll just include a short recap about the wonderful day too!

We focused on the Stellenbosch region; just like Napa & Sonoma, there are several smaller wine regions right in the area—it only took us about 35 minutes to get to Stellenbosch, wish it was always that close as wine here is surprisingly affordable!!  First up was Rust en Vrede which was absolutely stunning and only produces reds (all of which were really fantastic and they have some of their nicest bottles on the tasting menu).

After that we went to de Trafford which was a really small vineyard all the way up a twisty, turny dirt road. Basically if you think you're totally lost, keep going.  Followed by an incredible lunch at Jordan, outside on their patio with the sun shining, eating delicious food… really couldn’t ask for anything more.  We headed to De Toren after that which is very small and only produces two bottles for mass consumption and then two more super limited edition wines.  

Finished up the day at Mulderbosch which we’ve had before in the states and we wanted to check out their premises. It felt a little more like an established American winery in that they had a beautiful outdoor space with a lounge area, games, outdoor brick pizza oven, etc.  Quite a relaxing day and a terrific way to wind up our last full day in South Africa. 

Headed to dinner at Burrata, a wood-burning pizza place in the Old Biscuit Mill (our favorite placeJ) and then we’ll have a half- day tomorrow and we’ll jump on a plane for our loooong ride home. Can’t believe it’s coming to an end soon but we’ve really been able to relax, explore, and check out for a little bit which was exactly the goal!

Wines We Tried This Trip That Made the “Like” List

Meals, Etc

Meerlust Red 2011 *

Erne Els Chenin Blanc (The Big Easy)

Silverthorn Green Man *

Beaumont Hope Margeurite **

Vondeling Babiana *

Haute Cabriere Chardonnay/Pinot Noir **

Rust en Vrede

Cabernet Sauvignon *

Merlot *

1694 Classification Red **

Estate Red Blend **

Estate Syrah **

Single Vineyard Syrah

Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

De Trafford

Elevation 393 **

Syrah 393 **

Merlot *

Sijnn Syrah *

Jordan

2012 Chenin Blanc

De Toren

Fusion V**

Z*

Mulderbosch

Fable Mountain Vineyards 2012 Jackal Bird **

2014 Chenin Blanc *

2013 1000 Miles Sauvignon  Blanc *

2013 Faithful Hound-White

2013 Faithful Hound- Red

South Africa (Cape Town)- Day 10- From Cape to Cape

Back to our normal early mornings—today’s adventure: The Cape of Good Hope! Picked up our Fiesta from the Hilton downtown at 7:30 and hit the road for one of our two last full days (L).   Drove over the pass to Camps Bay and down the coast to Hout Bay, where we went on a seal spotting boat trip to Duiker Island.  Seals everywhere! We watched them slipping and sliding up and down the rocks, twirling through the water—it was really cute.  Fortunately it’s not high shark season either so while it would have been cool to see the great whites hunting seals, we’re definitely okay with not seeing that play out.

Driving the coast is worth the day trip on its own, regardless of the sites or stops along the way.  The closest thing we can relate it to is either driving the Pacific Coast in California or a slightly tamer Amalfi Coast drive—it twists and turns the whole way and you are right over the water/on the cliffs.  Pretty awesome and we had a gorgeous day for it! Next we stopped in Noordhoek at a restaurant called FoodBarn—absolutely delicious and a very locavore kind of place. Locally sourced food, in-house bakery… what more do you need for breakfast?

Continuing down the Cape, we stopped frequently to take pictures of the gorgeous beaches we kept “discovering”; huge expanses of white sands with blue water and lots of white caps since they do get real waves down here. The big attraction was Cape Point, but we managed to make another stop at Cape Point Bakery in Scarborough on the way (a tiny little bread bakery in someone’s house right next to the beach) and spent a few minutes on the beach as well as we made our way down to the southwestern tip of Africa.

Cape Point National Park is so much bigger than I expected. We were really just there to do the Cape Point lighthouse and the Cape of Good Hope, but you could spend days in here hiking around and exploring the area.  The lighthouse at Cape Point, and the hike up to it, definitely provided some breathtaking views of the surrounding water and seaside—interestingly, the higher lighthouse was the original but because it was so often covered in cloud and mist at its elevation, they actually built one on the cliff-face about halfway down as well to actually cover the need.  Went over to get the picture with the Cape of Good Hope sign—couldn’t come all this way and not get it!

Next up were penguins in Simon’s Town! We first went past Boulders Beach to another little area that had some penguins that you could get really close to without the crowds which was great, but then decided to go for the real attraction and see the penguins en masse. Definitely a sight we won’t soon forget with penguins everywhere you turned!

Drove up the opposite coast on our way back to Cape Town and as we approached the city, we actually saw a fire up on Signal Hill. We had seen signs everywhere since we arrived about fire warning as “extremely high” on the color scale, but it turns out Cape Town really is California and they have a pretty big wildfire problem here too.  Helicopters were flying across water bombing the site etc, pretty crazy to see as smoke. We swung by home quickly and then went to sunset drinks over in Camps Bay—there was a very intense wind (over 50mph for sure!) which contributed to the spread of the fire and altered our plans slightly for outdoor cocktails at The Bungalow. We ended up sitting just inside but still had a great view of the sunset over the ocean—a great end to an awesome day trip!