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South Africa 2002

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Travel

South Africa 2002

1 Rocktail Bay KZN

2 Londolozi Safari

3 Cape Town

4 Winelands/Karoo

5 Garden Route

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last updated: 19-Jul-2005

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Part 4 - Winelands and Kleine Karoo

Paarl and the winelands

After Cape Town, we stayed for two nights in Paarl, in the Goedemoed Country House. This is a B&B in a wine estate, in the plain of Paarl, surrounded by vineyards. The host was very helpful with advice on what to do in the region, and what to visit - only exceeded by Thomas, who wanted to see all the estates whose wines he knew - i.e. most of them... I just remember Kanonkop (we drank Paul Sauer only much later, but with him), KWV (just around the corner from Goedemoed), Morgenhof with their octagonal cellar where we had a fine al-fresco lunch, and Glen Carlou (I loved their wine, but the estate was not open for visits). Of all the towns, Franschoek was by far the nicest - I would try to stay there next time.

The dinners in Paarl were very different - but both good. On the first evening we were at the local Spur's - South Africans maybe cannot imagine that a lady's cut of beef of 300 g would be split in two portions in Switzerland - at triple the price. Since then, Spur is always on our list while in South Africa (they recently opened one in the new JNB domestic airport, luckily). For Non-South Africans: Spur is something like a KFC or McDonalds with its family restaurant atmosphere, but you get steaks in various cuts, of various weight, from various pieces, with various sauces - but always good and cheap.

The second evening was Christmas Eve, and we dined at Bosman's, at the other end of the scale. I had arranged a little wine tasting for the four of us, before dinner, which was done in the bar, with a very knowledgeable barman - even though I don't think Thomas learnt anything new. They had a pool with a real duck swimming in it - we saw it wander in from the neighbourhood. The dinner was excellent (no duck) - it was just a bit warm for Christmas...


Goedemoed Country House - Garden	Before our Christmas Dinner at Bosman's in Paarl

Kleine Karoo - Montagu and Oudtshoorn

We left the green hills of the winelands towards Kleine Karoo (Little Karoo). The difference could not have been bigger. Endless plains with remote mountains, sparsely populated and sparsely overgrown - but beautiful! We always wanted to go to the Great Karoo afterwards, imagining it is even more beautiful. Well, there are people who don't like the vastness of Namibia, and they maybe also dislike Karoo.

We stayed in the Mimosa in Montagu and the Rosenhof in Oudtshoorn. Montagu is a small town in the middle of nowhere, but has charme. Mimosa was very cosy (not just because it has Swiss owners). The cuisine is first class (I remember salmon on Rösti, and stuffed calamari with saffron), and the rooms are very colourful and big. I'd go back there immediately.

Oudtshoorn is very close to the middle of nowhere, and famous mostly for some caves (didn't go) and Ostrich farms (did go, was okay, riding an Ostrich was fun). In the Rosenhof we were lucky, we got an upgrade to a brandnew suite house with own pool. I remember the dinner was fine, in the old farmhouse. I also remember that Andrea and Thomas had an extremely small room which looked much older than ours, even though cosy.

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Pool of the Mimosa Lodge in Montagu	Our house in the Rosenhof in Oudtshoorn

Go to Part 5