Table Mountain

We made the journey from wine country to Capetown this morning. The fog was there again and there was some concern for Table Mountain but the weather cooperated and we had a great journey to the top and some marvellous views. 

The journey there was a sobering trip as you passed by the townships and the homes that were pretty make shift. We have certainly learned that equality is all around and the number of people living in poverty is huge. One needs to remember that when we complain about how tough everything is at home!

Table Mountain - words and pictures do not do it justice. The ride up on cable car is fast and scenic. The view from the top is breath taking. The low cloud added a special mysterious look to the multiple sights for pictures.

Lions Head

Next stop was Camps Bay.  The road down to the beach went past a lot of very big, expensive homes many of which are foreign owned and empty for a good portion of the year.  From the beach there is a great view of the 12 apostles of Table Mountain.

Wine Country

We checked into our hotel about 8 on arrival night so really didn’t see much. The Lord Charles Hotel is in Somerset West and has some history as Lord Charles was one of the early British Governors. There are some beautiful flowers in the gardens around the hotel.

There is so much history in this country that I really can’t keep up with it! Our guide has said a number of times that apartheid was not about the different races but the inequality and that inequality is still there! It doesn’t matter which guide we have talked to but they all say the same thing - government is totally corrupt although when it is election time suddenly things get done! 

No 5 am today - we slept in and left at 8:30. It was totally fogged in but it did clear and was a beautiful day with bright blue skies. There are some areas that remind me of the Okanagan but no big lakes here. 150 wineries in the area but they are much larger in size. Many produce small amounts of wine that are not shipped out.

We visited two small towns in the area - Franschhoek with some definite French and Dutch influence and Stellenbosch, a university in the middle of wine country. Both are very pretty places with white well maintained homes. All very nice and all very expensive.

Then it came to tastings at two wineries as well as lunch. Both tastings were very well done and there was no shortage of wine poured.

The before tasting

The after tasting

Lunch was at the second winery and was amazing. To top it off we were treated to some very enthusiastic African musicians.