Mountains, Penguins, Wine, and Oceans

On Saturday (July 3), we drove up Paarl Mountain and visited the Taal Afrikaans Language Monument. This monument is a huge stone structure built in the late 1970s to celebrate the history of this language, which was developed by the Dutch colonial settlers that came to South Africa in the 1600 and 1700s. All the different parts of the monument were meant to represent the different languages that influenced Afrikaans – Dutch, Malay, English, and a few indigenous African languages. That day it was also very foggy, the thickest fog I’d ever seen in my life. But we drove so far up the mountain that we eventually came out above the fog. It was a spectacular view of the mountains rising out of fog. It looked almost unreal.
We also visited a wine farm in the town of Franschoek, west of Cape Town. This part of the Western Cape province is known as the Cape Winelands and is well known for vineyards and wine production. The vineyard we visited was called Vrede en Lust and was established by a Frenchman in the 1600s. It’s amazing that it’s been around that long. The farm holds free public wine tasting sessions in the mornings and afternoons. This was the first wine tasting I ever went to. During our session we got to sample 6 or 7 different wines – rose, white, and red wine. It was a really nice place with beautiful furniture and place settings and a view of the vineyards and mountains out the window. They also gave us bread, five types of cheese, three different spreads, and Belgian chocolate in the shape of a soccer ball (hahaha) to go with the wine. The price of the wines was also very affordable (as most things are in South Africa). I bought a nice chardonnay for my parents for 48 rand or about $7. The most expensive wine was an award winning red wine that was 120 rand or only $17!

Vineyard at Vrede en Lust

On Sunday (July 4), while everyone in the U.S. was celebrating Independence Day, we drove all throughout the Cape Peninsula, south of Cape Town. First we drove up Signal Hill, which sits on the edge of Cape Town, adjacent to Table Mountain. From there we were able to see almost the whole city down below, including the stadium built for the World Cup. From there we drove to the town of Hout Bay where we had fish and chips for lunch at a restaurant called Fish on the Rocks. The fish I ate was a native South African salt water fish called a snook. Very delicious. After lunch, we drove up into the mountains again to Chapman’s Peak, which overlooks a city called Simonstown, where South Africa’s central naval base is located.

Cape Town stadium, looking down from Signal Hill

Simonstown

This is also the part of South Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, so for the rest of this day trip along the coast the ocean we saw was the Indian Ocean. We drove down the mountain and along the way we passed a family of baboons on the side of the road. Apparently baboons are extremely dangerous and have been known to attack people with the intent of stealing food. There were park rangers directing traffic, handing out brochures about baboon dangers, and ordering all cars to close windows and lock doors. It was a little surprising how intense this reaction was, but I suppose it isn’t much different from what happens with bears sometimes in the U.S.

We then visited a park along the coast called Boulders Beach, which is home to a penguin colony. These penguins are a species known as African penguins, which are native to this area. The penguins were so adorable and many of them would roost in their sand-hole nests right next to the boardwalk that led into the park. At the beach there were about a hundred or so penguins all gathered together. The other girls and I were very excited and took pictures of almost every cute penguin we saw. (Yeah, we’re weird. I know.) From here we started to head back towards Cape Town and stopped along the way at the beach in the town of Fish Hoek. Here we got out of the vans and went down to the beach to wade in the water. The Indian Ocean is significantly warmer than the Atlantic Ocean so the water was cool but bearable to stand in, even in South Africa’s winter.

We got back around dinner time and ate at a church in one of Cape Town’s suburbs. Some of the ladies who attend the church, including Corvell’s mother and sister, had a huge homemade South African dinner for us. We ate lamb, chicken, mushroom casserole, vegetables, and caramel cake for dessert. Everything was delicious. This was definitely one of my favorite days so far on this trip and I probably took a couple hundred pictures of the scenery. Every day that I spend in South Africa I am more and more amazed at what a remarkable country this is and all the wonderful things it has to offer. Beautiful sights is just part of it. More to come soon on some of the cultural things I’ve learned.