RSA - Part II

 

Our first full day in the Cape arrived with the Sun and after a nourishing breakfast we called for an Uber (incredibly cheap here!)  and headed out to the neighboring town of Constantia some five miles up the road. Famous for it's vineyards and wines Constantia is a affluent leafy suburb containing many posh houses and old cape wineries; we were visiting friends who had lived there since the late nineties and who we hadn't seen for at least a decade. It was an interesting journey as I'd stayed in Constantia myself back in 1991 for a month over Christmas and I recognized some of the landmarks and road names, although the place has grown a fair bit since I was last here! 

We arrived at our friend's house and immediately all agreed that no one had changed a jot in the last ten years! It was really nice to catch up and hear about their lives since we last met and after a few drinks we headed out to a local cafe for a quick bite of lunch and then back to their house to laze around by their pool in the sun for a couple of hours, drinking cold white wine, chewing the fat about holidays, and of course, gossiping about mutual friends.

After leaving our friends and having agreed to meet up with them again at the end of our tour we retired for an early dinner at our hotel restaurant where we had some great food and an interesting, and tasty,  Barbera from Idiom (a Somerset West based winery) total bill for food and wine came to a very satisfying £35, I can see why our friends decided to settle down here!

Our hotel was set in beautiful gardens and grounds with a fabulous pool and gym complex (see pictures above) it was a very relaxing setting and so quiet! On a previous visit to the Cape on business in the late 90s, I'd stayed here, it was vaguely familiar but had been extended quite a lot since that trip. It's claim to fame is that the Dutch founder of the Cape Colony back in 1652, Jan Van Riebeeck had planted the first Vines along the Liesbeek River on the site of the hotel, there were still vines here and ever since that time the area had been called "The Vineyard", the name of the hotel to this day.

We were up early the next day as I'd organized a little beer themed tour and our driver was scheduled to arrive at 9am, more about this in part III

RSA - Part I

I haven't been posting much for the last 4 weeks, the reason is that we've been off on our travels once more, to the Southern Hemisphere again but a different continent this time, Africa!

We departed from Heathrow airport on a dark, drizzly and cold January evening and the next day landed in a sunny, bright and warm Cape Town, South Africa, having slept through most of the night passing quietly over the "dark continent". On the approach into the international airport (CPT) I was lucky enough to be sitting on the right side of the aircraft to get a good view of table mountain (see photo above) and a panorama of the entire city, a wonderful view!

It was the start of a 24 day tour of the Western Cape in which we would visit many different places, see old friends, laze around on white sandy beaches, see multitudes of birds and animals and drop into some stunning vineyards where we would sample some outstanding Cape wines! We were eager to get going and after a couple of stamps in our passports and a walk to the car park, we emerged into the African heat where our driver was waiting to take us to our first stop, Newlands, a leafy suburb of Cape Town and our first hotel.

Upon arriving at our hotel we quickly checked in and were shown to our room for the next five days; it was a nice room overlooking the hotel gardens (complete with giant tortoises) and with a wonderful view of table mountain itself (see above) The temperature was 28 degrees with a light breeze and having spent the last few weeks in seemingly continuous drizzle and grey UK skies it felt like a rebirth, we were keen to get out and explore and over the coming days that's exactly what we'd do, see more in part II

Friday Smirk

The lads showing us that our religious brothers and sisters seldom appreciate their own arguments being reflected back on themselves and their beliefs, of course secular logic would suggest that what's good for the goose etc..

(WWW)Wise Word Wednesday

Quite a lot of people fall foul of this conundrum these days, especially when social media pumps out mostly garbage and has become de-facto the sole source of news and data for many.

Friday Smirk

The lads discussing how important communication is for a religion to spread, interesting to note however that it's 2000 years since the supposed "good news" occurred and there are still parts of this planet that haven't received it yet..

Favourite Dublin Pub

Doesn't look much from the outside but on our recent trip to Dublin last month this was by far our favourite pub. Bowes Lounge, a classic old fashioned Irish boozer, replete with private booths and an authentic Victorian vibe. The Guinness was good here too, according to those who know (certainly not us!) it's the second best in the city!

Friday Smirk

The lads talking about how reliable Biblical predictions are, i.e. if  you wait long enough then something is bound to turn up..