Wednesday 10th December 2025
After 8-days in CPT it was time to move on, we have had a really good time here and visited many sights, not all, so may have to return!!, but enough to get a good appreciation of the city and surrounding area.
Stellenbosch
Once checked out and Margaret had arrived we got going but we were still unhappy with the car’s locking mechanism so our first stop was the Europcar rental office. Once they explained the idiosyncrasies of the Japanese car, we were on our way, this time fairly confident we could lock it🤞🤞.
Margaret very kindly volunteered to take us part of the way to our night stop in Swellendam to show us some places of interest, and also take us the longer way, but more scenic through the mountains; Waze would have taken us the boring, direct route on the N2.
Our first ”proper” stop was the second oldest town in SA, Stellenbosch; a very big university town, and today just happened to be the day their degrees were handed out. All around the Campus were the proud parents with their off-spring, dressed in their gowns clutching their scrolls, and all “scrubbed up”; no wonder parking was difficult!!!
Eventually we managed to park then had a good stroll around. Stellenbosch is in South Africa’s Western Cape province and is surrounded by the vineyards of the Cape Winelands and the mountainous nature reserves of Jonkershoek and Simonsberg. The town’s oak-shaded streets are lined with cafes, boutiques and art galleries. The architecture gives a sense of South Africa’s Dutch colonial history, as do the Museum’s in period houses, and gardens. All the oak trees lining the streets are protected and cannot be removed apparently.
After enjoying a coffee stop in a pavement cafe we head out, our next stop is a winery, the Delaire Graf Estate owned by a diamond dealer, naturally!!
Upon arrival we were very impressed by the gardens leading up to, and the building in particular, very swanky. Time was not on our side so bypassed the diamond shop 😁and headed straight to the tasting area and just ordered 3-of their Chardonnays. Naturally that wasn’t quite what the winery wanted so sent a very nice, intelligent and knowledgeable young lady to “soft sell” us 6-bottles that can be sent to U.K. for only €12 or if we ordered now, a special introductory deal at €2!!! To be fair, the wine we tasted wasn’t worth the money they were charging, but hey, it was a super place to visit.
Our next stop was in the town of Franschhoek. Franschhoek is a town also in South Africa’s Western Cape with centuries-old vineyards and Cape Dutch architecture. Here there is the Huguenot Memorial Museum and neighbouring monument to honour the area’s French settlers, (https://huguenotsociety.org.za/history-of-the-huguenots/) who arrived in the 17th and 18th century, escaping persecution for being Protestants in a Catholic country, ie France. We had already parked the car, but in this town there are many “Tuk-Tuks” so naturally Margaret “spontaneously” booked one to take us up to the monument. I asked the driver if they are built in SA, no they’re imported straight from India he said.
Whilst in this area, Margaret suggested we “popped” into a local winery, the “Haut Cabriere Cellar”, for a quick one!!! Well the quick one took a little longer as we shared a platter of cheese and hams, delicious. Another superb estate sporting good “Quaffable” wines; but I was driving!!!! Because this area was predominantly French a century or more ago, its roots still linger and food here is more French than other parts of SA,
Back on route, following the twisty but wide road through the Franschouek Pass until we reached “Houw Hoek Farm”, another winery of course where Margaret had arranged to meet her sister for a lift back to “hers”. We left her clutching a glass whilst we headed to the car but just then her sister and husband arrived with their dog. We chatted for a bit before being ushered away by Margaret as we still had a couple of hours to drive. Again another big “thank you” to Margaret for her expert knowledge of this and the surrounding area.
We now hot-footed to our overnight stop, Swellendam, a boutique hotel, formerly someone’s home set in magnificent gardens. Upon arrival we were told that there was a big party staying and that we had been up-graded, well wow, we had the suite or family room which included a second bedroom with 4-bunk beds in and our bed was massive!!! What was nice, upon arrival we were taken straight into the bar for a drink and then we did the checking in procedure, very civilised.
Originally we were going to head to town for dinner but changed our minds and ate in. I have to say the food was very tasty but a rather unusual menu, still we didn’t need anything else that evening and had our best nights sleep so far.
In their parking lot there was a garage and I spotted a “project” car so naturally had to see what it was and it turned out to be an old Austin A40 Devon. These were built between 1947 – 1952 and according to the hotel, it was the owners first car!!!
Not the actual car but same model.