Our farewell breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and coffee. And, of course, mushrooms. In the course of a week we learned that the typical SA hot breakfast was all of the above plus mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Where did this tradition come from? The English? The Dutch? The Boers? At any rate it was a nice addition to breakfast.
Our hosts were Graham and Brandi and it turns out that Brandi is an American from Idaho! In the middle of the Cape winelands, Boer country. Anyways they have been in the B&B business for about 3 years now and are pretty busy. It makes me think that my dream of a B&B could be doable wherever we land in NA. Being out on the internet is huge, that's the way we found them. We used TripAdvisor as well and that was very helpful in finding good spots.
The chocolatier was indeed out of town. As we made our way towards the mountains the road went from paved to dirt. On the right was a whole village we didn't see when we were in town. It was made up of poorer housing and it became evident that it was the area where most of the black Africans lived. Apartheid is over but there is still a separateness here. It makes me think of the American south; I know it was this way 50 years ago but am not sure how much it is still that way today in small towns. People of all ethnic groups have to mix and mingle for business on the main streets in town but socially it seems like there is a long way to go. And like in America, there might be a strong church going presence across the board but on Sunday morning it may be the most segregated time in RSA, like in the USA.
Ah yes, the chocolatier. Her chocolate and the machines were all imported from Belgium. It smelled delicious and the small samples were good so we bought as gifts a bunch of chocolate. Her store is on a ranch/ farm 6 kms out in the country. I wonder how many people come out. We saw the woman only briefly, we dealt mostly with her black African staff.
We still had time to go to the winery Drostdy Hof which was up the road from the B&B. This old establishment had been around for a while but had fallen into disuse after an earthquake in 1969. But it was sold to a large corporation and completely restored. It is on the national register of historical landmarks for the RSA. The building is done in a traditional Dutch design and the inside has old creaky, wooden floors and high ceilings. They put in lots of antique furniture and items such as a room of old phonographs. Wow! But we enjoyed going down to the basement wine cellar to taste their wine. The wine bottles were sitting on old wine barrels with descriptions of the wine and the process of making that wine. You could take a glass, pour some wine in and taste. No one was down there but us. It was fun.
We ended up buying some more wine there, so now we've got to find a way to take it back to Addis Ababa. Some bottles are gifts for our hosts here and for the hosts of our girls there, a small token of our great appreciation for all those who helped make this vacation possible. Thank you!
Finally it was time to go. Back at the B&B we packed up and paid up and said good-bye to Brandi, wishing her well in her venture in South Africa. We got some gas and headed for Cape Town, a 2 hour drive.
Our last tourist thing was to visit Table Mountain. We did. It was open and busy. We took the cable car up and down (it is possible to go one way and walk down or simply hike both ways, but we wanted enough time at the top). It was an amazing trip up and walk around on the top. As we were there the clouds slowly started to roll in. They covered the eastern side of the mountain. We were able to stay up as long as we wanted. It was cool but not cold, there was plenty of sun and it was windy but not enough to close down the mountain (which they do when it gets too windy).
After the cable car ride down the mountain we headed for the airport to return the rental car, check in and have some supper. This we did. We continue to marvel at the airports in SA and how they do security. More than once I wished that the Ethiopian authorities would come for training on how to do security at an airport without being heavy handed and illogical. Alas, I don't see that happening . . .
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