South Africa Wine Country - Franschhoek & Stellenbosch

Last Friday Chuck and I headed to the town of Franschhoek, nestled between the jagged peaks east of Cape Town. This small town overflows with excellent wineries.

Our AirBNB was a cozy cottage behind the main house on a historic grape farm estate. The owner, Paulette, has lived in the house her entire life. She and her husband have known each other since grade school. The front door of our cottage was divided into two sections—top and bottom. Part of me expected a horse to shove the top half open and neigh for attention at any moment. 

The town felt a lot like Aspen. There are small art shops with “artists in residence,” selling statues of leopards and paintings of rhinos for high prices, even by U.S. standards. The major difference from any Colorado mountain town is the wine. Every restaurant we visited has extensive wine lists, and almost all glasses cost about $3 USD. That 13:1 exchange rate is really coming in handy!

Charles and I spent a day riding the rustic wine tram, a miniature railroad between wineries through the gorgeous, green valley of Franschhoek. At first I was a little disappointed, as we did not book far enough in advance to get the 6-stop tour. However, I think that starting a bit later and only stopping at three different wineries ended up being the wiser choice.

After a lovely day spent hiking the mountains around Franschhoek, we drove the 30 minutes to spend a few days in Stellenbosch--Franschhoek's big sister. We'd had our fill of wine, so rather than more wine tastings we went to a local wildlife reserve called Villiera and spotted zebra, wildebeest, springbok, giraffes, and more. Our guide, Guillaume, was incredibly knowledgable about all things outdoors, and we finally started to feel like we were really in Africa after the cosmopolitan crowds in Cape Town.

Next on our list was the famed Garden Route of Southern South Africa, so we headed to Betty's Bay for a quick stop to see the African penguin colony along the southern coast. Along the drive, we saw a pod of dolphins having lunch! You can see in the photos there were quite a lot of them!

We will send more information on the beautiful Garden Route soon! In the meantime, check out the MAPS tab to see where we've been lately!

Love,

Samantha & Charles