Capetown

South Africa was another really great experience, maybe not quite as much active fun as Namibia but still really nice. The port we were in was right on the waterfront and had shopping and food and entertainment so it was a great place to be docked, and the city in general is just so beautiful. Our first day our shark diving trip was cancelled so we wandered a little and ran into a few friends who were on their way to the winelands so we tagged along. We took a train to Stellenbosch, about an hour ride. The trains there are really really minimal it was weird, they felt bare like a warehouse, just empty cars and plastic seats along the walls, but “first class” had leather, or some sort of similar substance. Can’t imagine making a daily commute on one of those. But Stellenbosch was gorgeous, the mountains in the distance and gorgeous vineyards and plants all around. We managed to wander into a winery, Bergkelder or something like that, and enjoyed about 45 minutes of quiet and personal wine tasting for $1.50. We didn’t want to do a tour because we wanted to make it to another winery before our train home and tours were at least an hour, but the man doing our tasting gave us lots of information anyway and was very nice. We discovered that for $5 a year, you can have your own wine cellar in the mountains that you stock with your favorite choices and can come visit and have private tastings of your wine anytime, or have it shipped to you when its ready. Dana and I were very close to purchasing them for numerous friends and family. We also considered shipping cases of wine as gifts too because even some of the best wine was just so cheap it was amazing, but then we discovered shipping to the US was not so cheap at all.
The second winery we went to was Spier which is supposed to be the most famous or best or something, and it was really neat with a little craft market in the courtyard and a awesome restaurant called moya that is known for having tables in the trees, we didn’t stay for dinner though. The wine tasting here was a little less impersonal but still enjoyable. And this was also where I encountered the biggest regret of my trip thus far: the beaded cheetah. South Africa is known for their wire craft, just shaping wire and beading it, and at the craft market there was a life sized beaded cheetah that I seriously considering purchasing but didn’t and just cant forgive myself now. It was wonderful. But we did get a few items of jewelry and enjoyed some time at moya before our train ride home. We decided not to eat there because we wanted to go to a restaurant called Mama Africa on Long Street that served traditional African dishes, so even though we really hadn’t eaten all day and were starving we decided to suck it up the train ride home and hopped in a cab to Mama Africa- we asked our cab driver if he liked it and he said he didn’t eat African food. But anyway we got there and it was really neat and authentic feeling with a African band playing but they said it was a 45 minute wait, but we figured we made it this far and we could wait a little longer. Well 45 minutes turned into 3 hours, and by the time we sat down to eat we were so tired and hungry Im not even sure I noticed what all the dishes were. I believe we ordered springbok, ostrich, some skewers with different meats one of which might have been crocodile, and lambchops- this was for 3 of us by the way. But it was all delicious, especially the ostrich. I mean, it was really really really good. Dana and I are opening an ostrich farm. Its really healthy too. Ugh sooo good. Then it was about 1230 so it was right to bed because we had to meet at 8am for our safari.