The Beautiful South Stellenbosch

... which was more than enough time for all of us to try to eat enough before becoming completely and inevitibly inebriated. At most wine tastings you are suppossed to spit the wine into a container after you are done tasting it, but personally in a world of wine ettiquete and snobbery, I think spitting is quite the disgusting thing to do. Its better to enjoy the wine fully by drinking it ...

... by coffee and desert and a laugh at a jack russel dog chasing the geese.. the geese won easily!! At 2.15pm we were treated to a cellar tour and the thing that we had been waiting very patienty for..tasting! The cellar tour was informative and interesting and the wine tasting was a blast. The group had a great laugh and got giddier the more wine they consumed. The wines sampled were a dry fizzy cava style wine (to cleanse the palate), a chenin ...

... and saw Mandela's cell. A pleasant man in his late 50s who had been incarcerated with Mandela, though not in the same building, led us through the prison, describing the daily schedule and groupings of the political prisoners. His first hand knowledge was depressing but informative, the gravity of the location compounded by his anecdotes. On a lighter note, a little southern girl said it best when walking past Mandela's cell, "Man ...

... s in all and by the end I was feeling quite tipsy as I didn't like to spit the wine out incase the guides thought I didn't like it. I took quite a few photos at one of the Winerys. That was where I saw the zebra skin rug and they had some nice art there too. I think it was one of the oldest and it had a real old colonial feel about it. The wines were very heavy though but she let us taste for free. All day long we saw beautiful Cape Dutch buildings russet ...

... why most South Africans greatly admire him. The ferry trip back to Cape Town was at sunset, a nice way to end what turned out to be an enjoyable but hectic day. On the way back to Villa Lutzi we stopped and had dinner at a local restaurant and experienced the South African habit of providing huge servings as the entree (appetiser) was equivalent to a main course serving at home. A bottle of local sauvignon blanc was the perfect accompaniment to a good meal.

... Last night I saw a documentary on the typeface, Helvetica, at the Labia, an independent theater here (named for Count Labia, an Italian philanthropist, I think, who lived in South Africa for a while, I think). It was interesting, but I wanted to hear more comparison with other typefaces. I couldn't believe how subtly ubiquitous Helvetica has become since its invention in the 1950s. This weekend means more surfing, a rugby game, and a visit to Khayelitsha (a ...

... however we never left the train station. So I jumped all over my second idea: to try real AFRICAN food. This intention was a little misunderstood, see I was thinking SOUTH African food...and our African friends thought I meant Bushman food... the next thing I know I'm eating Pap (a corn meal mash that was in a ball and had the consistency somewhere between cold mashed potatoes and bread dough) and a bowl of vegetable stew (which apparently didn't mean vegetables but assorted ...

... will offer to lend you his car, and when you ask for the keys, he points out that the door's not locked, and the keys are in the ignition. But the people were very friendly, our accommodation was nice, there were a couple very touristy cafes, and we whiled the time away. First day we couldn't bike at all; we don't have clothing to keep hands and feet warm at 5C and raining. Second day we risked a ride down Trudeau Pass ...

... station and a 3.5 hour delay a replacement bus arrived and I was on our way and finally arrived at our destination of Plettenberg Bay after 14 hours. Plet was very pleasant. Basically a holiday resort for the over 50's (and me) with some really nice beaches. One day whilst on the beach the life guard blew his whistle and everyone was cleared out of the sea because of a shark sighting but I did not see it. Food is great and ...

... recycled tea bags to gorgeous bowls with intricate woven patterns fashioned with telephone wire to hand-blown glass. On a day the cloud finally lifted from the mountain, we circled its slopes hoping to catch the cable car for drop dead ocean views - us and everyone else in Cape Town it seemed - we settled for some more craft and coffee. Hoping for some insight into life under apartheid we visited the District Six Museum*. But this museum is less about the anger and ...