Tuesday 3 January

 Today we are taking a bus tour, organised by African Eagle, to the Stellenbosch Wine Region. We visit three towns. After a disturbed night, we got up for an early breakfast. I had a glass of yogurt with cereal and a hard boiled egg with toast, plus orange juice and coffee. Our tour picks us up at 8.30.

Inside Anura vineyard - we tasted lots of wines there

We boarded the bus with a Swedish family. Two other couples were also on the tour. Our driver drove fast to our first destination, the Marianne vineyard near Stellenbosch. But they were closed! So we proceeded to our next stop, Anura vineyard. We tasted six wines, two whites, a rose, three reds. With the last two reds we contrasted Malbec with Grenache and Syrah with a port type.

Richard at Vrede en Lust where we enjoyed the Viognier

Then we went straight on to Vrede en Lust where we tasted a rose, 2 whites, and two reds. We liked the Viognier and bought a bottle. Then the driver, who regaled us with South Africa's political history, took us to the town of Franschhoek for a lunch break. We walked up the pretty main street and stopped for lunch at Le Quartier Francais. We shared a tasting platter.

Laborie was built in the Dutch style

When we got back to the meeting place at the church, we couldn't see the others. After a bit of a panic, the driver found us. They were at the other side of the church. We set off for the last town of Paarl and went to Laborie Winery. There we tried 5 wines, and bought a Merlot/Cabernet 2015.

We headed back to our hotels and gave the driver a tip. Now resting in our room. This afternoon we saw that smoke was hanging over the mountains, probably caused by fires due to the dry winds.


In the evening, we got an Uber to HQ, a bar and restaurant about 1 km. away. We had a good steak and  chips and a bottle of Pinotage. There was a singer performing songs of Frank Sinatra. But on the way home we were pestered by three different beggars. Made us feel guilty.