Trying to catch up - part one. Cape Town, South Africa

I know I haven't updated the blog in a while. We've been out and about (as it should be when you're visiting another country) and by the time we get "home" I'm too exhausted to do much of anything. The driving is still pretty harrowing, even though we drive every day. It's hard to undo a lifetime of driving on the right, but we're getting used to driving on the left, finally. Also, when you just don't know your way around and am not sure which streets to stay off of then it gets a little stressful also.

I never posted pictures of our scenic drive from Haut Bay to Noordhoek. It is the only time we paid to drive on a road but it's not really a toll road, it's for the conservation of the area. The drive was breathtaking and stopping at Chapman's Pass is a must do. However, the road is very narrow, there are many cyclists on the road (going uphill!) and there are no shoulders, it takes all of your concentration to keep from smacking into a biker or another car.

That road is super narrow. Super narrow. Stunning views the whole way. 

Speaking of stunning views, I had not known how beautiful it is just about anywhere you drive in Cape Town and along the coasts. Even your commute to work is full of stunning views, either along the coast, or with the mountains in front or behind you. You can hardly turn around without wanting to take yet another picture.

Since we were driving through Kalk Bay on the way home we stopped for dinner at the Harbour House. We had a great table next to a huge floor to ceiling window and the waves were crashing against the rocks and then there was a sea lion right below our window! Just taking a bit of a scratch on the rocks. You could see more sea lions in the water, at least three of them, diving for food and generally waiting around for a person to throw them something edible from the pier.

I'm trying to remember all that we've done since then. We drove to Groot Constantia on a rainy day to do some wine tasting and visit the museum and wine cellar there. Groot (Great) Constantia is the oldest working vineyard in the southern hemisphere, it was started in the 1600's. It is now owned by a trust and is a non-profit. We toured the Manor House museum, the Carriage House museum, and then had lunch. 

See the thing on the right of the bed with the lid up? That's a commode! Yep, a toilet with a really nice painted porcelain bowl. There is a lovely hanging cradle to the left and a large porcelain wash basin. I love seeing period rooms. This is not from the 1600's of course but from the early 1800's. Although, the building (the Manor House) was built in the 1600's.

From the windows of the restaurant we could see numerous baboons in the trees and fields of the vineyard (and there had been one on top of the Carriage House until it was chased away) so after lunch we talked to one of the men we saw who seemed to be a baboon controller. His job, along with the other men on his crew, was to keep the baboons away from the people and the garbage bins. They used paint ball guns! That's pretty cool. They can't kill the baboons, nor would they want to, however they do need to be kept away from the young vines or they eat them and kill them, and of course they need to be kept away from people so the baboons are shot with paint balls, but only from the waist on down, they can't aim for the head. The guy told us that just the other day a baboon managed to steal a huge block of cheese from the kitchen loading bay and made off with it into the fields.

Done with lunch and looking at the baboons we decided to go on the cellar tour. It was 50 rand ($5.00) which I thought was steep for a cellar tour but it comes with a wine tasting at the end so that was pretty good! We got lucky too, there was a huge tour group of Chinese people ahead of us so we were held back, along with another couple, and had an almost private tour. 

So much wine! We learned something very useful from the other couple, they had come in on the Hop on Hop off City Bus Tour and they really recommended the tour. 

After tasting all that wine (2 whites and 3 reds, none of which we bought) we decided it might be a good idea to walk around some more, so we visited the historic bath.

This thing is huge, bigger than it looks here.

Since it was still a cold and overcast day we drove home and cooked pork chops on the grill. I wanted to blog then but the cold and the wine just did me in.