Visiting the #Wine #Capelands is definitely one of the favourite after school activities. Thank you Amanda for sharing great pictures with us. @waterford_estate is always a great place to visit. #Wine #winelovers #winelover #winetasting #vino @Regrann from @mandinhateles - Today was day to try some taste of South African! #capetown #stellenboch #southafrican #wine🍷 #trip✈️ #taste #winefarm #capestudies - #regrann
Being back home from CapeTown I just can’t stop reminiscing about the beauty of South Africa, bright sunlight, neat culture and all the possibilities for outdoor activities. I got a chance to spend almost a month with my brother in Cape Town and explore its surroundings. When new to a place, it always takes a bit to get accustomed, however this strip I was lucky to have my Joel show me some of his favourite things and explore some more together. I could have easily spent another month or half a year in this place, and I’ll definitely be back to explore some more. Thanks Joel for great travelling company!
Below I listed few highlights from this trip and paired them with pics. Let me know if you’re planning to visit the Cape and I can give some pointers!
1. Exploring the outdoors of the Cape and surroundings. If you’re into hiking, biking, climbing or other outdoors activities you will be spoiled. We did some hiking and mountain biking in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, which is right next to the city of Stelleboch (about 1 hour drive). Nice hikes from 3km to 20km and a network of mountain biking trails for all levels.
2. Driving around the Cape with Joel’s Cape Car. There are really nice views just by driving around the cape and the Table Mountain. Its also been quite fun to explore it with this old Mazda 323. Just once we got towed off to repair from the highway!
3. Enjoying the cape sunsets. The sunsets here are quite dramatic especially against the Table Mountain. Nice views were from our ‘home beach’ Blougberg Strand and the trails up on Durbanville. (Meerendal Wine Farm)
4. Eating out. It almost seemed to be more expensive to cook than eat out in South Africa. Of course it depends on the area, but really interesting and cute restaurants and cafes serve breakfast to dinner from 3€-7€. (Including coffee, wine or beer) The food was delicious and usually made with local ingredients. Breakfasts or ‘brekkies’ are really popular and you’ll find a lot of cafes serving them even at lunch time!
5. Spending time in the water. Surfing and different water activities are really popular in Cape Town. When its windy you’ll see tens and hundreds of kites and sails in the water, and there are tens of surfing spots along the coast line. I only did surfing on this trip, while Joel enjoyed the wind as well and took out his windsurfing gear. A good place to catch easy waves and practice surfing for me where in Muizenberg and Big Bay, depending on the wind and swell.
6.Spending Friday evening at the Muizenberg Night Market. One of the nicest memories of these past week was checking out a food and craft market in Muizenberg. Placed inside of what looked like an old wearhouse were different street food vendors, coffee makers, craft beer companies and local artists selling food and hand made products. In the middle of the space were long tables where people of different ages, families and friends were enjoying the food from the vendors. The food portions were about 3-5€, there was a DJ playing and the interior was decorated really nicely. (There are lots of markets happening around the cape, almost every day!)
http://www.bluebirdmarket.co.za/nightmarket.html
7. Exploring Woodstock. Woodstock is a bit sketchy area almost in the centre of Cape Town, where you'll find a lot of designers, artists and interesting people spending time there. We worked couple days in the Woodstock Exchange. In there were cute coffee rosters, craft stores, design companies etc. Overall an interesting place!
http://woodstockexchange.co.za
8. BBQ & buying food from a grocery store deli. The locals in South Africa seem to love their barbecue, which they call Braai. No wonder a lot of houses have outdoor fireplaces and we also had a grill in our balcony. (I don’t think that’s allowed in Finland). The grocery stores have a lot of things to cook over fire from fresh fish to meat and vegetables. It’s also worth checking out the deli counters, where you can find hot foods and also great sushi for lunch. (3-4€ a set of Sushi).
9. Seeing cool wildlife. I think a lot of people think of safari’s when you tell them you’re going to travel to Africa. There are places you can go see the lions, elephants and other classical animals (mostly in the Kruger National Park XXkm), but the wildlife was really present already in the proximity of Cape Town. We went to check out penguins at Simon’s Town!
10. Having a picnic at an outdoor cinema. The last evening of the trip was topped of with an outdoor cinema in the Kirstenboch Botanical Garden. Around the cape (different wine estates, city centre, parks..) almost every night films are shown outside by Calileo. (website) We bought warm and comfy tickets (6€/each), which included access to the movie, a chair and a blanket. There were few street food trucks, baristas, and local craft beer and wine vendors from where you could buy snacks or drinks for the movie. It was pretty neat to watch the Anchorman, right below Table Mountain in a full moon light and under the stars.
http://thegalileo.co.za
Time flew by way to fast and there are few must to see on the next trip!
- Old Bisquit Mill saturday morning market
- Visiting the different craft beer breweries
- Climbing up Lion’s Head
- Finding nice music venues
- Buying food straight from the local farms
- Exploring the craft factories of Woodstock
Stellenbosch University management ended up with egg on its face after it was forced to reverse the appointment of Pieter Kloppers as the new dean of students - barely a week after it was made.
