33:55.37S  18:24,35E

21st April – 22nd April

Arrival in Cape Town

We’re in a hurry to get to Cape Town by 21st April to meet up with friends from Phuket, who are visiting Cape Town with their husbands on a conference for tin mining and minerals. We hurriedly drive through this gorgeous area of Swellendam, with its rich pasture land and dutch style villages, tarrying a while to have lunch alongside the river in a lovely old village house, where many famous people make a bee-line for, it’s so pretty

The Dutch reformed Church, Swellendam

The Alliance Restaurant where we had lunch along the rivers edge in Swellendam, used as a Masonic Lodge during the time of Leopold 1st of Belgium

Glitzy Cape Town with Table Mountain as its backdrop, down by the harbourside

This has a huge face lift for the World Cup Football which was held here last year 2011

We’re so lucky to be able to have a base in Cape Town for 3 weeks thanks to Neale, a masonic & golfing friend of David’s who was born and brought up here and kept his apartment as a lock up and go whilst he lives and works and Phuket

View of Table Mountain from Neil’s apartment at sundown

Sunset over Table Mountain, from Neil’s apartment

Neil’s very comfortable apartment, which he is kindly allowing us the use of whilst he is hard at work in Phuket! (Poor ‘ol bugger)

The lenticular cloud forming as a table cloth over Table Mountain, that means bad weather on the way, which actually did not happen until after we’d been up there for my BIrthday

View from the Lion’s Head, just opposite, as in the photo below

Clear and crisp Table Mountain with Lions Head in the foreground, Cape Town sprawling below

It was cold up there, in that crispy, windy weather!

Cape Town Docklands, incorporating Royal Cape Yacht Club

Cape Town Football Stadium built for the 2011 World Cup

Cape Town’s sprawling city, such a contrast to the South Africa we’ve seen so far!

The Grande Corniche from Cape Town, spectacular view over Houts Bay

We meet up with Helen and Margaret, our friends from Phuket.

Glorious sunny weather to have a fish lunch on the deck overlooking Houts Bay

Houts Bay

Klein Constantia Vineyards is just over the neck of those hills in the middle, separating Houts Bay from Constantia giving it a wonderful Mediterranean micro climate.  This area was settled in 1685, and is the birthplace of South African wines, being part of the Groot Constantia Estate until 1712.  The newly appointed Commander of the Cape Simon van der Stel named this farm Constantia, it was the first piece of land granted to him in 1685.  It probably honours the daughter of Rijckloff van Goesn, who supported the governor’s land application.  After his death in 1712, the farm was subdivided into three.  We visited the main manor house and farm of Groote Constantia with our friends, Annick and Michel Lobel who also live nearby, a week later.

It is one of the most famous vineyards on the globe. Needless to say it made Constantia wine for Napoleon to drink whilst he was incarcerated on St Helena, off Africa’s Western Atlantic Coast

Trying out the delicious wines, it looks as if we’ve had a few already, but we were still waiting!

The four seasons for the vine – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, we’ve just had the harvest in Autumn.

This isn’t the Ritz, it’s The Mount Nelson’s ‘High Tea’

Where Margaret and Helen are staying.  Trouble is, we don’t have any room to try it out!

And David finally found his Panama Hat, to replace the original one he lost too long ago