So on we drove towards the beautiful wine region of South Africa! Plenty of rolling hills and gorgeous scenery on the way, interspersed with fascinating informal settlements on the outskirts!
Franschhoek is a beautiful little village nestled in amongst the mountains. Settled by yet another ethnic splinter group (French Huguenots this time), some 300 years ago. Today it's a quaint little town full of art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and is the centre of the glorious wine industry!
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| As well as having a funky label, squashed by a fat hippo, this has been one of our favourites from the Richards Bay bottle-o. |
Coming through the mountains into the wine region, we felt like we had left Africa behind, until we came across a troupe of baboon who quickly reminded us we were still on the continent.
Once in town, we found our accommodation and settled down to the business of working out where we were going to eat! With options aplenty, we weren't disappointed, and as the weather was somewhat inclement, it seemed the perfect option!
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| The Town Hall with its beautiful Cape Dutch architecture. |
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| This "little" sign on the mountains is visible from the main street, and is a useful orientation tool should you wander out of a drinking establishment and not quite remember where you are. |
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| This is La Motte Winery, where we spent about 3 hours having a decadent lunch - we can recommend the single vineyard chardonnay! |
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| Nothing like a slow cook on a wintry day... |
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| ...and William was very happy with his 'kiddies sirloin'! |
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| Desert wasn't too bad either. |
And so...
...Franschhoek was definitely worth a stopover on our way to Cape Town. On our way out we had to stop for several photo opportunities of the amazing landscape, as well as a small detour to check out the site of Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.
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| Mandela spent the last few years of his imprisonment in this correctional facility, about 60km from Cape Town. |
