I was completely blown away by the infrastructure and level of development in South Africa. I pictured a barren wasteland - brown, flat land, with shacks periodically scattered. But, it wasn't that at all. It was green and luscious, well developed and full of rolling hills and mountains. Keep in mind I was only in the Southern Cape. I think the brown, barren land is in the Northern Cape, next time I might venture that way for a
different experience (yes, I am already talking about a next time). Well, an area of South Africa that represents those beautiful rolling green hills quite well is the wine country of Stellenbosch. Jeff and I had read about the area in books and online before our trip and knew this was an area we couldn't miss. Plus, we love wine, so wine in South Africa was even more exciting. We heard about Spier Winery, which seems to be one of the biggest and most well-known, and figured we better hit it up. It didn't disappoint.
We arrived and immediately headed to the tasting area. We each had three from the vintage collection and they were tasty! After that, we roamed the property to check out the cheetah and eagle refuge and then popped into the on site deli to pick up some fixings for a picnic lunch along the lake on the property. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for the ducks that were pretty much jumping into our laps to try and eat our food. While at Spier we picked up a map of wineries in the area and realized that Stellenbosch was much larger than we thought, there were over 100 wineries in the area. We knew our time was limited and we only had time for one more stop, so we picked the Ernie Els Winery. Yes, Ernie Els, the pro-golfer! Jeff and I actually
watched Mr. Els play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last year so we thought this was a perfect stop. Between my brother and Jeff's Dad (both avid golfers) we thought they would get a kick out of the visit as well. Mr. Els definitely selected one of the most beautiful pieces of land I have ever seen. It was perched up on a hill surrounded by mountains and rolling hills of vineyards. Breathtaking! We again went straight for the tasting and both enjoyed three wines from the collection. We picked up a couple of bottles to bring home with us and are looking forward to a special event to pop a bottle wine and reminisce about our trip.
We left wine country with a 4 hour drive ahead of us to Knysna. Our drive took us past a forest fire (this picture doesn't do it justice, you could actually see flames!), through farmland with more cows and sheep than I have ever seen in my life and onto our next adventure...a flat tire! The next story I tell about our adventures in South Africa during my
Life As A Wife.
I was completely blown away by the infrastructure and level of development in South Africa. I pictured a barren wasteland - brown, flat land, with shacks periodically scattered. But, it wasn't that at all. It was green and luscious, well developed and full of rolling hills and mountains. Keep in mind I was only in the Southern Cape. I think the brown, barren land is in the Northern Cape, next time I might venture that way for a 
different experience (yes, I am already talking about a next time). Well, an area of South Africa that represents those beautiful rolling green hills quite well is the wine country of Stellenbosch. Jeff and I had read about the area in books and online before our trip and knew this was an area we couldn't miss. Plus, we love wine, so wine in South Africa was even more exciting. We heard about Spier Winery, which seems to be one of the biggest and most well-known, and figured we better hit it up. It didn't disappoint. 
We arrived and immediately headed to the tasting area. We each had three from the vintage collection and they were tasty! After that, we roamed the property to check out the cheetah and eagle refuge and then popped into the on site deli to pick up some fixings for a picnic lunch along the lake on the property. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for the ducks that were pretty much jumping into our laps to try and eat our food. While at Spier we picked up a map of wineries in the area and realized that Stellenbosch was much larger than we thought, there were over 100 wineries in the area. We knew our time was limited and we only had time for one more stop, so we picked the Ernie Els Winery. Yes, Ernie Els, the pro-golfer! Jeff and I actually
watched Mr. Els play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last year so we thought this was a perfect stop. Between my brother and Jeff's Dad (both avid golfers) we thought they would get a kick out of the visit as well. Mr. Els definitely selected one of the most beautiful pieces of land I have ever seen. It was perched up on a hill surrounded by mountains and rolling hills of vineyards. Breathtaking! We again went straight for the tasting and both enjoyed three wines from the collection. We picked up a couple of bottles to bring home with us and are looking forward to a special event to pop a bottle wine and reminisce about our trip.
We left wine country with a 4 hour drive ahead of us to Knysna. Our drive took us past a forest fire (this picture doesn't do it justice, you could actually see flames!), through farmland with more cows and sheep than I have ever seen in my life and onto our next adventure...a flat tire! The next story I tell about our adventures in South Africa during my Life As A Wife.
1 comment:
lol. anyone else find it amusing that there's a cheetah refuge at a winery? that could be dangerous.
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