Small Town RSA

We’ve been in small town RSA (Republic of South Africa) for the past 48 hours. From Stellenbosch to Paarl to Tulbagh to Franschoek. In some ways these small towns are very similar to their NA counterparts.

We drove to the south and east from Tulbagh back to Paarl hoping our experience of getting lost would not be duplicated. Our goal was to find Nederburg wines, but alas, it happened again. Once again we were lost, this time in the industrial section of town. Eventually we figured it out. Partly it is our fault for not remembering landmarks from the day before and partly it is the fault of poor maps and the lack of signs (or no signs at all). This is something that you wouldn’t find a problem in NA in tourist areas.

But we finally found Nederburg Winery. We walked the grounds a bit, read the history in their welcome center, visited their old wine cellar (200 years old and now only used to tell the story of Nederburg), walked into the old mansion which has been around for at least a 150 years. The story starts in 1791 with the purchase of land and the development of the vineyards. Fast forward to 1937 when a man from Bremen, Germany buys the property and begins using more scientific methods to make better wine. Nederburg starts to win prizes for their wine and becomes internationally recognized. It still is the premier winery today, I believe. And yes, we bought some wine before we left.

We headed south and east again through Paarl to Franschoek. This town has a fascinating history. The French Huguenots fled France and settled here to escape religious persecution. They found themselves among other Protestants, namely Dutch Reformed and in several generations they blended in, losing their French language. But some of French culture is retained in this village, particularly the wine making and cuisine. I thought this village reminded me a bit more of a mix of Kidron and Tavistock. The main street was more like Tavistock except for the tourists and shops which Kidron has. But both towns are still ‘working’ towns with large trucks rumbling through the center of town.

We found a restaurant to eat at and once again we hit it lucky. Wanda got a chicken wrap and I got a bacon cheeseburger. Wanda ordered a ‘chocoppuchino’ which turned out to be amazing. Made of 3 main ingredients, coffee, chocolate and ice cream and served like a milk shake, Wanda was blown away how good it was. I tasted it and decided to make it my dessert. I also tried a bottled apple cider which was very good. Although an alcoholic beverage, it wasn’t a hard cider and went well with my hamburger and fries.

After lunch I walked to the local Reformed Dutch Church which was built in the 1840’s. It was a big church and even though updated to a degree, it smelled and looked old in a familiar way, with a musty odor mix of carpet, wooden pews and hymn books. It reminded me a bit like the Mennonite churches in the Niagara peninsula before they were renovated, even what Kidron and Sonnenberg looked like before they were renovated. I stood in the pulpit front a

nd center, the original benches were straight ahead of me, the pipes from an organ were behind and above me. To the right and left were wings with benches and balconies. I wondered how many people attend each Sunday now, how many youth are attending, if they have a mission program. I picked up a brochure on the way in and sat down in a pew to read it. On the way out I noticed an older woman sitting quietly in the corner of the foyer. She had seen me pick up the brochure on the way in and now asked for 5 rand for taking it. It struck me as odd to charge people for a brochure promoting the church (albeit the history of this church) and I asked aloud if the brochure shouldn’t be considered part of the church’s mission. I think it caught her off guard and flustered. She gave me my change in silence. I regretted later that I didn’t chat with her instead to answer the questions I had in the church. If she had said they do mission but this is a tourist activity and charge tourists, I could understand that. After all mission is about the good news of Jesus, not about a brochure.

We made our way back to Tulbagh in the mid afternoon, once again driving through Bains Kloof Pass. The wind had been blowing from the time we entered Franschoek and the mountains that surrounded the region were slowly being covered with clouds, a ‘table cloth’. Were we going to be engulfed in the clouds on the winding and steep passes through the mountains? Wanda was worried but agreed to let me drive it again. The upside is that there are very few vehicles that use the pass so I could relax a bit. But there are places where the drop off from the road is sheer and you can’t make any mistakes. That is what makes Wanda panic, just thinking thoughts of death and danger. There were no clouds in the mountain pass. We made it through again.

We find ourselves eating late for all meals; breakfast from 8-9 a.m., lunch from 3-4 (or later) and supper at 8-9 p.m. Wow, like the rest of Africa. We were the only ones at the Manley Winery Estate restaurant last night. It was next door to our B&B which made it easy to visit. Our server was a very nice and attentive man who, from the outset, we could tell had to be gay, very gay. The owner, obviously British background, came out and said hi to us then left and he took our order. For Wanda the standard order, chicken breast. Each night it is at a different restaurant and they prepare it differently but the meat is the same, chicken breast. I ordered a steak and we waited. The irony is that we were the only patrons but we waited at least as long as if it were busy. We should have taken our Scrabble game and played. As it was the music was from the 70’s and 80’s, most of the songs we remembered. Talk about taking us back; Grease medley, Is she really going out with him? By Joe Jackson, Boat on the river by Styx, I will survive by Gloria Gaynor, etc. So we sang along, declaring the songs good, bad or just plain ugly.

Today we leave the Villa Tarantaal B&B, visit Drostdy Hof winery and make our way back to the Cape before leaving tonight on a flight for Johannesburg.