I went today to Stellenbosch and Franschoek. Basically this is THE place for wines and champagne in South Africa. Stellenbosch was the first locality in the country to wake up to the marketing potential of a wine route back in 1971 and it has been hugely successful. It is extremely easy to travel as there are wine-route signposts along the main road and obviously wineries know how to accommodate visitors. Franschoek (French’s Corner) itself while hosting some wineries has emerged as the culinary capital of the Western Cape with restaurants such as Le Ballon Rouge.
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I had again a rough night yesterday as we celebrated Nick’s birthday in Capetown. Nick is a former colleague of Celine and they met strangely in Ashanti Lodge in Capetown. Before that it happened that he was staying in Hermanus during the time I was there and went shark diving the day before. This is a small world.
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I have been to Robben Island today. Robben Island was the center of detention of political troublemakers during apartheid time Nelson Mandela was detained there for 18 years. I was extremely disappointed by the content of the tour, not to say the conditions, especially considering the high price (R150, we could not make it for the special promotion of R60).
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I went today to Cape Point (ie, Cape of Good Hope) taking advantage of the beautiful weather. While returning to Capetown I stopped in Simonstown to visit the colony of jackass pinguins living on the beach. Pretty cute animals and smaller than I was expecting.
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I’m undecided about the next trips to Asia. I was supposed to go to the Philippines and Thailand next, but the weather forecast looks like a succession of thunderstorms for days and days which is absolutely not unusual for the june-october period…
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