Wine Tour

Yes, this ended up being as divine as it sounds. I'm not a huge wine drinker, but I do enjoy the flavor of a good grape. I was more going for the scenery and a chance to get outside of Cape Town. It did not disappoint. The picture at the top is of Brent, myself and a Belgian named Gaytan. He has been a fun traveling companion as he loves football, books, Belgian beers and good conversation. This was the second vineyard that we went to. It was also in the Stollenbocsh area and was well into the mountains as you can see. On the way into the area, there were peaks at least 4-5,000 feet above where we were that were covered in snow. Very picturesque. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't really do justice to anything outside of 20 feet or so.

As mentioned before, I don't drink much wine, but I would have to say that the best that I had was a Pintoage which is a blend of Pinot Noir and Heritage(not 100%). We also had champagne, port, sauvignon blanc, merlot and a few others.

At lunch, we stopped at a little place called Le Pommier. I had a Greek Salad, another something that I don't do much, but it was outstanding. The best feta cheese that I've ever had. I was really stepping out on this excursion. ;)

To the left is a crazy picture from Le Pommier. It turned out quite artistic despite the fact that I had no idea it would! But it does capture the surreal ambiance of the area.

We continued on to 2 more vineyards in what was a city call Paarl, which is Africaans for pearl. The penultimate was Goats something vineyard which Brent was very excited to say was on a show called 3 Sheets. They actually had goats in the front and very good pinotage called the Goatfather, which you see below.

This was the place that they advertised that we could have an hour long cheese eating break. It sounded well and good, and for the most part, it was. We had about 7 different varieties of goat cheese, and 6 were just fine. However, two cheese plates in front of us a woman let out a stomach clenching, "Ueahueaheuck." I'm not positive, but I think that's German for, "Thanks, but no thanks." So Gaytan was next in line, and he steps up in true Belgian fashion and says, "No, that's actually quite good." So I'm next, and I grab a piece of the stinkiest cheese I've ever imagined. Of course, I had just seen a Rick Steve's on how some of the best cheese is really stinky. I told you that I was stepping out. . .so I put in my mouth. . .and two seconds later, I spit it up into my hand. To give you some mental picture, which many of you are already not needing, I had to wash my hand because of the stench that it left for the 2 seconds that it was in the palm of my hand! Yes, it's funny now.

Overall, it was some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in person or on tv. Furthermore, it gave me another glimpse of the disparity between the "haves" and the "have-nots". We passed many, many less fortunate families, and it's an ever present reminder of the inequity in quality of life. The US, really is so far ahead of the rest of the world in it's ability to provide its citizens with the opportunity to achieve essentially whatever they want. Not perfect, but before the next time you go to criticize. . .travel.