South Africa 7: To Cape Town

The Afrikaans language monument

 On Tuesday the 27th it was time to head to our last stop in South Africa, Cape Town. Before leaving Paarl we went to visit the Afrikaans Language Monument and did one final stop (we thought) at the wine farm. We did a quick tasting at the Landskroon wine farm and bought a one bottle of their portwine. 

Part of the monument

Plants in the garden of the the monument

Entering the tasting room of the Landskroon wine farm

View from the Landskroon wine farm

 Our way down to Cape Town took us past Stellenbosch where we decided to make a quick stop in the centre. The whole place felt very crowded so we just walked a short round and jumped back into the car. It was still early and we didn't have to drive to Cape Town yet. We had told our guesthouse that we would be arriving between 4 and 5pm. We decided to go to have lunch on wine farm we had visited the previos time: The Jordan Wine Estate. Our dinner there three years ago had been fantastic! One of those experiences which will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Because we were so close to the farm and it was lunch time we thought why not? Let's drive there and find out what has changed in three years. We didn't regret this decision. Nowadays they have two restaurants a bistro style Bakery and the Jordan Restaurant. We hadn't made reservations for the lunch so we decided to eat at the Bakery.

The view at the Jordan has stayed the same. I have a photo like this from our previous trip as my computer background and it was pretty amazing to sit down to the terrance and take in the view as real.

Cheers!

Salt and pepper squid, wild rocket, aioli and chimichurri 70 ZAR

Sticky Moo Moo, honey and soy glazed beef brisket, toasted sesame seeds and dukkah slaw 95 ZAR

Lemon meringue pie

Salty Caramel Chocolate Tart

After lunch we also stopped at the tasting room, because I wanted to buy some bottles of the sauvignon blanc I had drank to the lunch. The guy at the tasting room was super nice. He told us that there are actually two sauvignon blancs so we, of course, had to taste both of them. We were talking about the farm and told him that it was already our second time there because we really loved the place. He got quite excited and asked if we would like to taste their better Chardonnay, which according to him is one of the best Chardonnays in the world: Nine Yards 2013. He said that normally the wine is not open for tasting but the owner had had some visitors earlier who had tasted the wine and thus there was one open bottle. When somebody claims wine to be one of the best, we just had to taste it. And yeah, it might be the best Chardonnay I have tasted so far :D So, we left the place with six wine bottles.  

Despite the heavy traffic in Cape Town we arrived at the right time to the Merriman Road where our guest house welcomed us with open arms. For the rest of our stay we had booked a room at the Bluegum Hill Guest House. Absolutely a perfect place to stay when in Cape Town. Lovely room and the view is superb. The place is owned by two sisters who both were the most helpful. They helped us to conform a booking for the Test Kitchen and told us many useful tips. If we ever go back to Cape Town, we will for sure book a room in this place again. A stay of four nights with breakfast in a king room cost us 6760 ZAR. (446 Eur / 487 CHF). By the way, it was hard work carrying all the wine we had bought all the way down to the room ;D Luckily we got some help.

Our room at the Bluegum Hill Guest House

The owners dog looking in

One could see down to the Waterfront

The view from the upper terrace