It was going to take something special to keep us happy after our trip to Aquila and we knew exactly where to head…the wine lands!
A fellow kitesurfer at Langebaan recommended a route from Aquila to Stellenbosch (our next port of call) that wound through beautiful mountains, vineyards and a gorgeous town called Franschhoek.
“It took us some time to check out the menus of some of the forty-nine restaurants on the main road.”
The mountain pass allowed for a birds eye view of Franschhoek on our approach that was stunning. A pretty town nestled between mountains all around, it’s a picture postcard place and somewhere we had to stop and explore en route to Stellenbosch, even if only for a few hours.
In the heat of the midday sun, Rich and I walked along the main road, strewn with restaurants, art galleries, craft shops, jewellery shops, pancake and ice cream parlours. Hundreds of people were relaxing, enjoying food and wine with friends under the shade of parasols lined up along the street.
As we bobbed in and out of art galleries and shops, it took us some time to check out the menus of some of the forty-nine restaurants on the main road before we found the perfect place to rest our feet and have a bite to eat. With great food and wine, lots to do and see and picturesque views of mountains, I could have stayed in Franschhoek for a very long time, spending a lot of money whilst there!
We had to leave Franschhoek to continue our journey on to Stellenbosch. Founded in 1679, it is the second oldest town in South Africa, is home to Stellenbosch University and over one hundred and forty wineries. It is beautiful. Much like Franschhoek but on a larger scale and with a younger vibe. On our first evening walking round the oak lined streets with art on the pavement, not just in galleries, we searched for somewhere to enjoy our first night.
“As we walked around, it reminded me very much of Didsbury.”
There was absolutely no need for us to eat again, after the mountains of food at Aquila and a lovely lunch in Franschhoek, neither of us were very hungry. However, having checked into one of the worst hostels yet in South Africa, we were keen to get out of there.
As we walked around, it reminded me very much of Didsbury but instead of tiny bars that fit around twenty people in, there were lots of people both in the bars and restaurants and sitting out on the many tables lining the streets.
We eventually found our place for the evening, an informal cafe/restaurant called Java, with an outside heater and table for two available. Perfect. Rich and I had a wine tasting extravaganza lined up the next day, so whilst neither of us were hungry, we thought it best to ensure we had our stomachs filled with some food and so Rich opted for a burger and I a platter of cheese and parma ham, something light to pick at.
“I felt like a right glutton.”
When our food was served, Rich’s burger looked amazing but frankly tiny next to my gargantuan sized platter for one. My chopping board ‘light snack’ took up most of the table and as the waitress walked past other tables to ours to serve it, everyone looked at it with a ‘wow that looks great, I wonder which lucky couple are sharing that’ gaze. When their eyes locked onto our table, only to realise it was a serving for one, that one being me, I felt like a right glutton.
There was no way on earth I was going to be able to eat all of this, I wasn’t hungry after all. Wrong! Two hours later I had picked my way through every piece of mouth watering cheese, ham, pickle, olive and grape on the platter, along with the eight inch long stick of bread.
There was no way on earth I was going to let good food go to waste and looking back on it, the fact it took hours to eat was perfect given we were looking to stay away from our hostel for as long as physically possible. Thankfully we had a short walk back to our hostel before I rolled into bed, so managed to walk off a grape or two before bedtime.
You would think that getting back to your hostel at 10.30pm meant that the loud staff and techno music would have subsided but no. We returned to party central, however the only people at the party were the three staff that worked there! Making more noise than a rave filled with one hundred people, we appeased one of the drunk staff to a twenty minute conversation before she left our room and we tried to get some sleep.
Given that we were up at 5.30am that morning to get ready for our 6.30am game drive, we were shattered and I fell asleep to the sound of the walls vibrating, music blaring, whoops and cheers from the staff that could only have been celebrating the fact it was Friday night and the start of the weekend.
“To be honest we didn’t learn much about the wine at all.”
The following day we set off on our wine lands tour. Four wineries, including one that made cheese too and a minivan filled with Swedish, Australian, French and Belgian people along with us Brits set the scene for what was to be a fabulous day.
To be honest we didn’t learn much about the wine at all, our guide seemed a bit more interested in showing us how he could open a champagne bottle with a saber, telling us which were his favourite wines on the tasting lists and then sitting back and relaxing. That wasn’t going to spoil our fun though as we gleefully started drinking wine at 11am!
I actually think the highlight of the day was visiting the winery that also made their own cheese. Despite the gluttony of the night before, I think I spent longer at the cheese tasting table than the wine tasting one, I know Rich certainly did! I’ve never seen anyone eat so much cheese from the end of a cocktail stick before in my life.
The ‘comedy’ point of the day was when we drove to our destination for lunch, a lovely restaurant in the neighbouring town of Franschhoek. After our lunch there the day before, we were looking forward to heading back again and sampling another fine establishment out of the forty-nine situated on the main road.
“I honestly can’t remember the names of the wineries during the afternoon tastings.”
Sods law saw us sitting at the exact same restaurant, on the exact same outdoor decking area, at the exact same table, albeit with a few others lined up next to it to accommodate our larger group! We didn’t grumble though, the food was good and we got to know our wine tasting group a bit better over lunch, accompanied by a glass or two of wine of course.
I honestly can’t remember the names of the wineries during the afternoon tastings and I didn’t have the sense to take a photo of the name of each place either. However with one sat on the side of a mountain, the views down into the valley of Franschhoek again were beautiful and our final wine tasting back in Stellenbosch took place under the shade of a huge oak tree. It was the perfect setting to while away the hours, drink wine and enjoy the late afternoon sun with our new friends.
Unfortunately we returned to our hostel for one more night and unbelievably, when we arrived it was nice and quiet, relaxed and chilled, exactly what we needed after a day of drinking wine in the sunshine.
That was until 9pm when a bus dropped off twenty South African students who descended on the hostel for the night. There was the hope that they would head out for the night but no, they made so much noise until the early hours of 4am that even I, the one who could sleep through nuclear warfare, didn’t sleep.
Upon checkout the following morning, Rich and I were not happy bunnies and Rich had his speech prepared for how unhappy he was and why he wasn’t going to be paying for one nights accommodation given than we had barely any sleep at all. I normally fear for the staff that are on the end of one of Rich’s rants but on this occasion, I was one hundred percent behind my husband and ready to pitch in with a few cross words of my own as well.
I think that Rich was actually a little upset when he didn’t get to have his rant. As soon as he said we didn’t enjoy our stay due to the constant noise until 4am from the party bus of people who were obviously not backpackers, they told us not to worry about paying for our accommodation at all and apologised. No arguments, no cross words, no nothing.
Despite the awful hostel stay we had, we really liked Stellenbosch and were determined not to leave it on a bad note. We found ourselves a lovely cafe to enjoy our Sunday morning breakfast and after the copious amounts of food and wine we had consumed in the past few days, there was only one thing on the menu for us and that was healthy, refreshing, nutritious food!
Lambs on the loose 