Good Days in the Cape

We've had a couple of busy but good days here in the Western Cape. Yesterday (Thursday) began with a trip to Mowbry, where I had a meeting scheduled with the Resident Director of the Arcadia University study abroad programs in Cape Town. We're considering adopting the Arcadia program to send Kelley students here for summer internships. I had a very nice visit and learned a lot. Meanwhile, Barry and Gywen visited the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Considering it is winter, the garden was not in full bloom, but the Nelson Mandela Birds of Paradise were blooming. They hiked for a couple of miles and enjoyed watching the birds.

We met up again around 11:15, when we drove into Cape Town, past the FIFA Fan Fast, to the Bo-Kaap district. We parked the car and walked to find lunch. There must be only one restaurant in the neighborhood, as we ended up in the same restaurant where we had eaten on our last visit to Cape Town (Biesmiellah). We walked in just as the Noon Gun fired and enjoyed a nice lunch including samosas, curry chicken, tomato bredie, rice, and roti.

After lunch we went to Table Mountain and took the cable car to the top (1084m above sea level!). It was a bit hazy, but otherwise the weather was perfect, and we spent about 45 minutes enjoying the views of Cape Town, Green Point Stadium, Robben Island, Lion's Head, Camps Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Twelve Apostles - not to mention the unique vegetation, rock formation, and rock dassies. I could have spent an entire day on top of the mountain, hiking and taking pictures, but we had to leave to get ready for our soccer match.

We drove back to Hout Bay through Camps Bay and along the dramatic Atlantic coast. After putting on our warm clothes we drove the the Hout Bay park and ride to catch a bus to the stadium. As the sun sank lower in the sky, the bus followed the coast all the way to Green Point and dropped us off within a block of the stadium. We arrived early enough to be the first in line at the gate through which we entered. We shopped in the FIFA Fan Shop, took pictures, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading to our seats near the top of the stadium.

Like the other stadiums we've visited, the South Africans did a great job building Green Point. It's smaller than Soccer City but has a beautiful setting near the shore with Table Mountain providing an amazing backdrop. The stadium as a semi-sheer shell made of some type of fabric. There are also several sections of temporary seating which will be removed after the World Cup.

From our seats in the nose bleed section, we watched an exciting game between Cameroon and the Netherlands. As anticipated, there were a lot of Dutch people wearing all kinds of crazy orange outfits. But there were plenty of Cameroon supporters, and the Cameroon team gave the Dutch a good challenge.  Following the game, we took the bus back to Hout Bay and went right to bed for a good night's sleep.

This morning (Friday) we got up a little later and discovered that the valley was blanketed in fog. After breakfast, we headed out for another day of wine tasting. We started nearby in Constantia with Bietenverwachting, which was one of our favorites from our previous visit. Next we headed toward Somerset West along the coast of False Bay. The drive was nice, but the fog was pervasive throughout the bay. We could see the surf and dunes, but the breathtaking views we had hoped for did not materialize. Or next stop was Meerlust near Stellenbosch, which was founded in 1693 and has been in the same family since 1757. It was a beautiful setting, in spite of the dreary, winter weather.

We then drove past Somerset West, out of the fog and over the mountain to the Elgin Plateau. I'm glad we did, because not only was the weather beautiful but we discovered a wonderful winery, Paul Cluver. The cooler climate of the higher altitude results in some great Pinot Noir, whereas there is not Pinot Noir in Stellenbosch. From Elgin we went on to Hermanus. We had been to Hermanus before, but were unfamiliar with the wineries there. We visited three nice wineries in the Hemel en Aarde Valley above the town. The earliest winery in the area started about 30 years ago, with the rest opening 10-15 years ago. The wineries we visited, Newton Johnson, Sumaridge, and Southern Right, all had good wines and spectacular views, which were only partially diminished by the haze and encroaching fog.

By the time we finished at Southern Right, it was about time for the Brazil v. Paraguay match, so we went to the Gecko Pub in Hermanus to get some dinner and watch the game. We had some tasty wood fired-fired pizza as we watched the game from a bay-front room lined with windows. It was hazy, but the fog held off. We didn't see any wales - the high season for wale watching begins in about a month.  Unfortunately, the room was cool and full of chain-smoking South Africans, so it wasn't really as enjoyable as it should have been. The game was boring, so we left before it ended to head back to Hout Bay.

The drive back took just over an hour. The sun was setting as we left Hermanus, so it was a fairly dark drive. However, when we came through the pass above Somerset West, (elevation 450m), we had a beautiful view of Table Mountain and the entire Cape Peninsula, about 35 miles away, outlined by the glowing orange of the setting sun. By the time we got to Khayelitsha it was foggy again, so we drove through the fog until we got through the mountain pass into Hout Bay. Now we're back at Intaba Lodge watching Spain beat up on Chile in front of a crackling fire.