RETURN TO CAPE TOWN

In March 2020, just before COVID shut everything down, we spent a long weekend in Cape Town seeing the sights and catching up with some friends who were passing through.  It was our second visit to Cape Town, and we didn’t expect it might be our last.  But then the pandemic hit and we were confined within Zimbabwe’s borders for last 15 months.  So presented with one final week of vacation, and with travel outside Zimbabwe a bit more open, we opted to return to Cape Town as our last adventure before our time in southern Africa ends.

In our first two trips, we’d covered the basics – Hiked Table Mountain?  Check.  Toured Robben Island?  Yep.  Tasted wine in Franschhoek?  Done.  So this time, we decided to do something a bit different.  We started with a couple days checking out some new-to-us wineries in Stellenbosch and then headed further east to hike around the Elgin Valley. 

The views from the tasting rooms (or patios) in Stellenbosch did not disappoint.  This was our vista at Jordan.

Wine tasting in the time of COVID at Hidden Valley.

Fall colors abound at Thelema.

It's like looking at a painting at Delaire Graff.

The Elgin Valley is a cooler part of the region and home to some stellar pinot noirs.  Some friends in Zim gave us a tip about this “wine hike” that would include four days of hiking (anywhere from 6 to 11 miles a day).  We started early each morning with a drive to a trailhead – or would start right from the guest house where we stayed each night – to hike a different loop around Green Mountain.  We hiked to the summit on day one, and the other days we walked various routes around the mountain and through the “fynbos” – the shrubland around the cape that’s dominated by proteas, heather, and an immense variety of other unique plants.  We had an incredible guide point out interesting facts about the landscape to us and the two other couples that joined us for the duration.  And perhaps the best part - each day’s hike either ended at a winery or with a private tasting back at the guest house from one of the local vintners.  We earned our wine each day!

We had views like this from the trail for four days.  Amazing!

At the top of Green Mountain.  Our lunch spot on day one.

Even though we're coming into winter, so many plants were in bloom!

We hiked along and through some of the valley's vineyards too.

Winding our way through the fynbos.

On the trail.

One of the many cool plants we found along the way.

And another one.  There were some new birds for me too - orange-breasted sunbirds! - but I didn't manage a decent photo of them, so you get plants instead.  They don't move as fast.  Makes 'em much easier to photograph. 

The sky!  The mountains!  It's beautiful country.

We spent our last two days in Hermanus, a coastal town about an hour and a half east of Cape Town.  It’s winter here, so we didn’t venture far into the ocean, but it was refreshing to walk barefoot on the beach and hear the crashing waves after being landlocked for more than a year. 

The coastline along Hermanus is pretty spectacular.

A coastal trail runs along the waterfront in town.

Full moon and a clear night.

We did one last (very short) hike up to a lookout point above town.

We took the long way back to Cape Town and stopped in at one of our favorite wineries in Franschhoek before heading to the airport.  It was a beautiful way to say goodbye, for now, to one of our favorite cities.  And it was a fitting last hurrah to our time in southern Africa.

Not a bad view to accompany a glass of brut at Haute Cabriere.  So long, for now, Cape Town!