Exploring South Africa Part 2

Stellenbosch

Although Stellenbosch started as a college town, it ended up being South Africa’s wine capital with over 150 wineries. We shifted our accommodation from Cape Town to this marvelous wine country. If only we knew how incredible Stellenbosch was, we would have extended our stay here. We only had a day to explore, what a bummer! Initially, when planning this trip, we wanted to spend the entire time in Cape Town and do a day trip to Stellenbosch. After doing more research we decided to spend two nights here instead. We had plans of visiting Johannesburg as well, so our days were packed! I would advise anyone in this situation to spend more time in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, and fewer days in Johannesburg. A week in Cape Town, 4 days in Stellenbosch, and 2 days in Johannesburg sounds about right to me.

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The weather in Stellenbosch is almost similar to Cape Town since they are an hour apart. What made our stay in Stellenbosch more special that we didn’t want to leave was our accommodation. We stayed at De Zeven Guest Lodge which was at a wine estate overlooking some beautiful mountain ranges.

I’m the type of person who likes to move around and explore, but I wouldn’t mind lounging at this guest house all day. We had a pool, a viewing deck with a fireplace, a little library, a self-service wine bar, a vineyard, a garden, and an adorable little cat called Sophie. Goodness, I miss Sophie.

Let’s jump to the activities we did in Stellenbosch. 

 Cycling /wine-tasting tour

This was a perfect activity for our one-day stay because it allowed us to explore the town and visit the wineries for wine tasting. We booked this tour via Trip Advisor (most of our tours are booked via Trip Advisor). Our trip started with a city tour where we learned about the history of Stellenbosch and saw some historical landmarks and buildings such as Stellenbosch University, St Paul’s church, VOC Kruit Huis, etc. I also learned that Afrikaans was a language derived from the Dutch and it is mainly spoken by the white South Africans. When our guide was speaking in Afrikaans, it sounded somewhat German to me. We had a girl on our tour from Belgium, and she could understand some words in Afrikaans even though she has never heard it before. The other languages like Xhosa and Zulu are mainly spoken by black South Africans. Later on, we went for wine tasting at Stark-conde Wines and Lanzerac Wine Estate.

The first winery we visited was Stark-Conde Wines. It had a one-of-a-kind landscape. There were mountain ranges surrounding the place with beautiful vegetation all around, and to top it all, they had a huge pond in the middle with a lovely bridge where the wine tasting was taking place. We only got to do wine tasting here. The place was packed, and the views were definitely playing a big part in attracting the crowd.

At Lanzerac we got to do wine tasting and also visit the wine cellars and see how the wine is processed and stored. They didn’t have incredible views like Stark-Conde Wines, but they made up for it with their incredible wine. I learned so much about wine. White wine pairs well with lighter chocolate like white or milk chocolate while red wine pairs well with darker chocolate. White wine also pairs well with white meat while red wine goes well with red meat. Well, that is easy to remember.

The quality of the wood of the wine barrel determines the quality and taste of the wine, oak is the preferred wood. The larger the barrel, the less flavor your wine will receive. Smaller barrels allow more contact with the wine, thus a more intense flavor. The amount of time you have the wine in the barrel also significantly impacts the flavor- there is a lot to digest here. A lot of oak trees are planted in Stellenbosch and you can already guess why.

The landscape in Stellenbosch is a bit different from Cape Town. I felt like we were surrounded by mountains and a lot of nature everywhere we went, the only thing it didn’t have was a coastline. The town in Stellenbosch very much resembles a European town in terms of architecture and layout. We were told that sometime in August 2013, it snowed at one of the mountain ranges in Stellenbosch, a very rare occurrence around here. If you are surprised by this, there is a small town called Ceres northeast of Cape Town that experiences very cold winters and snowfall. It would be so cool to visit this place in the winter.

We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant called Indiche. It is located at Delaire Graff Wine Estate. It is a fine dining restaurant and a bit pricey but worth it. I would recommend it for a romantic dinner date. Delaire Graff Estate seems like a lovely place for wine tasting.

We visited a vintage shop called Oomie Samie se Winkel (meaning Uncle Sammy’s Shop in Afrikaans). It is a Victorian-style store founded in 1904 and still operates now as it did back in the Victorian era. It felt like walking into the early 1900s. It offers a combination of vintage finds and handcrafted pieces in a variety of colors, fabrics, and sizes. A perfect shop for souvenirs.

Johannesburg

We decided to spend the last leg of our trip in Johannesburg, specifically to learn about the history of South Africa. Johannesburg is said to have the highest rate of crime in South Africa so we had to be selective in picking our accommodation spot. We wanted somewhere that would have everything we would need in close reach. We had a couple of options to choose from: Sandton, Rosebank, and Houghton. These are known to be the leafy suburbs of Johannesburg and are safer. We settled on Rosebank and stayed at Voco Rosebank Hotel. Our hotel was right next to Rosebank shopping mall, a ton of nice restaurants, and everything we would need right at our doorstep. This was perfect! We felt very secure because there were guards around and we didn’t need to go far to look for anything. I would recommend Voco Hotel a thousand times. It was very clean, modern, beautiful, and safe plus fabulous service. It also had a restaurant called Proud Mary which was among the best restaurants in the area. We always make sure to read the reviews and check the ratings before booking a hotel.

Since we only had a full day in Joburg, we decided to take the Hop on Hop off bus for a city tour. This would be my first time on a hop-on hop-off bus tour, and the system pretty much works like the tram wine tour we had. The bus goes to about 12 locations and you get to choose the places you want to go to as per the bus timetable. The bus is a very safe way of touring the city because they drop you off and pick you up at the entrance of each location. This is a nice and secure way to explore the city. They also have a bus that can take you to Soweto if you want to venture out further. We ended up visiting two places, Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Apartheid Museum.

At the Nelson Mandela Foundation, we learned all about Mandela, saw his diaries and letters when he was imprisoned, saw the clothes he wore to court, learned about his family life, and even saw his office. They have preserved the office he used between 2002-2010 at the Foundation.

The place that caught our attention the most was the Apartheid Museum. If you are keen on wanting to learn about Apartheid and get a clear vision of what happened, you have to visit this place. It was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster going through the museum and seeing what Apartheid did to South Africans ( It is not allowed to take pictures inside the Museum). It tore them apart according to race and put the black South Africans beneath everyone else socially and economically. I remember this gigantic truck preserved at the museum, that was used to conduct patrols in the black neighborhoods (Trevor Noah describes it very well in his memoir). The truck looked like a monster, it for sure left the impression it was intended to. I was very saddened to learn of a town called Orania in South Africa that still practices the old backward ways, as it is a “whites only” town in this day and era!!

Here is a little budget breakdown of Stellenbosch and Johannesburg

• Accommodation prices in Stellenbosch are somewhat similar to that of Cape Town. We booked our accommodation at De Zeven Guest Lodge on their website because we already had a referral.
• Flight tickets from Cape Town to Joburg range from $150 pp.
• Accommodation in Joburg is cheaper than in both Stellenbosch and Cape Town, most places range below $100 per night.
• Restaurant prices in Joburg and Stellenbosch are similar to Cape Town. $15 would get you a decent meal and drink at a regular restaurant.
• Uber rides in both Stellenbosch and Joburg are fairly priced. You will pay $10 or less for most rides.

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