We spent the first day, which was New Years  Eve, touring the wineries. If you asked me which ones we visited, I couldn't tell you their names to save my life. The wine country is very picturesque. It's a little bit like Switzerland without snow. The valleys, most of which are covered with lush vineyards, are framed with beautiful mountains. Some of the peaks are quite rugged. One mountain in particular has a stone top which is rounded and the region takes it's name from this mountain. It's called Paarl, or pearl in Afrikaans. 

We visited a winery that had an interesting name. It is, believe it or not, named Goats Do Roam. In addition to grapes, they raise goats and make very tasty goat cheese. A bottle of wine and a chunk of goat cheese make a wonderful snack. The tower, shown below, was built for the goats to climb on and they apparently love to do just that. Look closely and you can see a goat half way up in the open doorway.

The beautiful Wine District                                    Steenburg Winery  

Goats Do Roam Winery                                    Goat tower at Goats Do Roam Winery

 Dutch Colonial Church                                        Old Chapel turned Museum

Cape Town was settled by the Dutch. When the French Huguenots came to Cape Town the Dutch didn't want them in the Town, so they forced them to settle in the outlying areas, which just happened to be these lovely lush valleys. I think the French Huguenots got the best deal. In any event we spent a truly wonderful day touring the wineries, sampling their wares and seeing the beautiful countryside. That evening we got dressed up in our finest threads and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Groot Constancia Restaurant.

   New Years Eve at Groot Constancia Winery      Groot Constancia Winery Gardens

    Our Cottage at Groot Constancia                   Cricket game at Groot Constancia
 

The next day, which was New Years Day, we chose to visit Table Mountain. We started up the winding road to the point at which one boarded the cable car to the top. The road was lined on both sides with parked cars and a traffic jam hindered our way at every turn. Parking wouldn't be a problem as Les could wait for us at the bottom of the mountain and come pick us up when the cable car returned. The only problem was we couldn't get to the cable car for all of the other cars trying to get there too. We finally abandoned our efforts to reach the top and decided to go to plan B, or Cape Point.

Cape Point                                                                   Phil and Peggy at Cape Point

Cape Point isn't truly the farthest southern tip of Africa. The real southern tip is some distance to the east and is called Cape Agulhas. Just to the east of Cape Point is a large bay called False Bay. In the days of sailing ships, when they rounded Cape Agulhas they thought they were rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Once they entered False bay they had great difficulty sailing back out due to unfavorable prevailing winds. A better name might have been False Hope Bay.

We visited Cape Point which is a huge rock outcropping with a light house perched on top. From that vantage point one can see more than 180 degrees from the northwest and the Indian Ocean around to the south and north east to the South Atlantic. The view is as spectacular as any I've seen. The light at the point was originally down low on the rocky outcropping, but it was so often obscured by fog that they moved it to the top of the rock. It is claimed that one can see a line in the water where the currents of the Indian Ocean meet the Atlantic currents, but that seems implausible since Cape Agulhas is the true meeting place. It is still a beautiful sight.

To read more see "Day Three at Cape Town: published 09/26/2007.