Monday 8th December 2025
Another hot day I expect, judging by the clear blue sky with no wind as we walk out of our hotel and head down through the car park to the lower road where the red bus terminal is situated. Our main objective is to join their “blue line” route then change to another bus for a wine route tour where we can stop at two vineyards🤪🤪. Our timing was perfect, we bought our tickets then stepped straight onto a bus, no waiting around, that makes a change!!!
Whilst we’ve been here we have wondered several times why this area is called the “Victoria and Alfred” and not “Albert” being her husband. As the bus pulled out they gave us the reason (???) it was because Alfred, her second son laid the foundation stone.
Our route winds its way through the old city centre then out of town, first passing the hospital that Professor Christian Barnard carried out the very first heart transplant, then passing the Cecil Rhodes Memorial high on the mountain side over looking CPT. This well known historical person who made his fortune in the diamond mines and founded De Beers, also created Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe) and died at the age of 48. At the age of 27 (1881) he entered Parliament and became Prime Minister of Cape Colony as it was know then between 1890 – 1896 but resigned after the Jameson Raid* . Students here have already ripped down his statute in CPT, but for some unknown reason left his imposing memorial alone. The students at Oriel college Oxford also voted to take Cecil’s stature down but I don’t think it happened!!! We carried on towards Newlands. Newlands is an affluent leafy suburb in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, famous for its lush greenery, proximity to Table Mountain, and the heart of South African rugby and cricket and home to the iconic Newlands stadium**, though it is not now used. This area is bordered by Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden gardens (we did this last week) and Newlands Forest. Known as Cape Town’s “greenest” area due to high rainfall, it offers hiking and outdoor activities, and is a sought-after residential area to live where to buy properties here one needs extremely “fat” wallets, it is attracting both wealthy locals, and wealthy international visitors such as Charles Spencer, (9th Earl Spencer), family home Althorp but spends much of his time here. Just past the botanical gardens we swapped buses, we wanted the detour bus through this wine growing region. This wealthy area is also “plagued” with Baboons, if they get in to a house they reap havoc and neither walls or fences keep them out so many families employ security guards, not for burglars but to keep the Baboons out!!!!!
Our first winery stop was at Groot Constantia, part of an estate owned by a Dutchman who started to grow grapes for wine in 1685. The bus dropped us in the car park and a short walk towards the main part of the property where it was evident the original buildings were in beautiful condition and the area and gardens around them were kept to a very high standard. The first thing we encountered was their cafe with tables and chairs shaded by some very big and old trees lining the driveway to the main house. After short coffee break we were pointed to a large old barn where the museum is and the wine tasting takes place. Between the back of the main house and the old barn was a huge courtyard with a artificial stream and a bridge with a lot of white ducks swimming about. We got to the museum then asked for our ticket, nobody mentioned we need a ticket!!! He pointed to the wine tasting bar area. When we got there we were informed we had to buy a tasting package which included a museum entry but needed to return to the front of the house. We then headed back to the car park to get the bus!!!
The next stop was at “Beau Constantia”, part of the original estate but now a “Boutique winery”. This was a much longer walk through beautifully kept gardens with a “very, very” short steep hill; going down was ok but not looking forward to walking up it later!! Once we had got down this hill and turned the corner, then we were faced with a lot of steps, ouch, 🤞🤞it’s worth the trouble!!!
We arrived at the top passing the toilet block halfway up with a sign saying “a loo with a view”. When we arrived at the restaurant at the top we immediately knew we had made the right decision. The other place was too commercialised, this was a family run establishment. They gave us a front line table over looking the their “amphitheater” and the hills and valley covered with ‘wall-to-wall” grape vines; what a view.
We enjoyed a package of four wines to taste; 2-white and 2-red, with some cold meat, cheese and fresh bread to help it go down. Firstly as I said this is a family owned vineyard and the wines we tasted were all named after a family member. First we tried “Pierre”, (the owner) a 2025 Sauvignon & Semillon white and rather nice, next we tried
“Cecily”, (the owner’s wife) a 2025 Viognier white wine, this one was very nice, next it was
“lucca”, (Owner’s daughter) a 2022 Merlot & Cabernet Franc red wine, didn’t like this,
“Aidan” (owners son) a 2019 Shiraz, Petit Verdot & Cabernet Sauvignon red wine that would have been excellent with a steak in the evening, in the day with the sun on you, it wasn’t good. I then ordered another glass of Cecily, it was the nicest, but resisted the temptation to buy any bottles😩😩.
Eventually we had to leave; it was one of those places you can just settle into and forget all time, but we had a bust to catch so said our good byes and headed down the steps, calling into the loos before leaving to catch this “loo with a view”, and it was a great view!!!
The short sharp steep hill did take sometime to climb but once up, it was downhill all the way to the bus stop.
Back on the bus we left this wine growing area and carried on driving through the forest passing a very large township high on the opposite hill until we came to the small fishing port of Hout Bay. Here we got off and had a wander round and watched a chap with three black labradors; he threw a rather long stick into the harbour and all three leaped into the water, a drop of about 2-meters from the quayside. They then swan back to some rocks where they could climb out, we carried on ‘till the end of the quay and watched 3-seals frolicking in the harbour entrance before returning to catch the next bus.
The twelve Appostles
Our route back to town followed the coast with some lovely sea views on our left, and some spectacular rock formations on our right. They call these formations the 12-Apostles due to their shape. We passed another small haven down by the sea with a nice looking beach called after the town of “Llandudno” in north Wales, unfortunately there is no access for buses so we couldn’t stop. The sun was still shining and no wind, remarkable!!! We passed through Camp Bay again and into town finishing at the bottom of the hill below our hotel.
Back in our room we set about a few chores and crashed after another enjoyable day. Tomorrow we gat our car.
* Jameson Raid. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_Raid)
** Newlands Stadium: Apparently this has been empty for years and is ripe for development, but the cost of knocking it down and disposing of all the rubble makes un-economic so it stands, empty and un-loved🥵