By 8:30 this morning, we were headed toward the Cape Winelands. We visited the small town of Franschhoek and its Huguenot Museum, to commemorate the Huguenots that immigrated to the area in the late 1600’s. They were farmers and grew fruits and vegetables for the seaman stopping in Cape Town. By the 1690’s, they were also growing wine grapes. The valleys and mountainsides are covered in vineyards.
We had lunch at the second oldest vineyard in South Africa, founded by a Huguenot family in 1685, the Boschendal Estate. We did a wine tasting of five different wines, had a tour of their wine production, and then had a decadent picnic lunch under the trees. Each couple got a large wooden box of food for lunch, including chicken salad, two baguettes, cole slaw, salami selections, pate, Brie, condiments, freshly made marshmallows, and a chocolate pudding cake, served with our choice of wine or sparkling water. Two hours later, we were all stuffed and quite happy. We drove through the small town of Stellenbosch, known for its university and its vineyards, on our return to Cape Town. We had a wonderful day in the Cape Winelands!
