Adventure 7 - A weekend with Olha

We had already decided that sharing our adventures was part of this 40 year pilgrimage, so when the opportunity arose to spend a weekend in the Western Cape after some work with our dear friend and amazing colleague, Olha Madylus, we leapt at it.

Olha and I (Deb) had spent a week working with some fabulous subject advisers and doing some "holiday"stuff after hours - a trip to Long Street where we just had to breathe to get high! an evening at the waterfront with Yolanda, where we watched people tango at the edge of the water, a wonderful afternoon at Camps Bay followed by an amazing dinner at Blues restaurant, and then on my own I visited the Company Gardens to play with the squirrels and gaze at the mountain, and a lovely walk in St George's Mall.

On Friday, Pete arrived and the adventure began.  Lunch at a great little cafe near the hotel - Bread, Milk and Honey  http://www.breadmilkhoney.co.za and dinner at Baia Seafood restaurant on the waterfront, and then off on our adventure on Saturday morning.

The weather was wet and cloudy so there was no wonderful view of Table Mountain from Bloubergstrand as we set off up the West Coast, but by the time we reached Darling it was clear and lovely.  We visited the Darling Olive Cellars and Evita se Perron - what joy to see the glorious kitsch again and share it with Olha.

And then on to Franschhoek.  We stayed in a strange little guesthouse but as it was walking distance to everywhere we wanted to go, we survived the overblown organza, strange showers and loos in the corners of the bedroom and the over-furnished lounge - and the crazy old lady who thought w were staff and demanded to know where we had 'put David" ??!!!











Sunday was the day we'd been waiting for - a wine tour on what they call the "Wine Tram"  It's not a tram at all - it's a bus made to look like a tram and for a short distance you travel on a narrow gauge railway in a car made to look like a tram.  But what a delight - authentic or not!

We visited 4 wine estates - Dieu Donne up in the hills, Leopards Leap and Eikenhof down near the road and Rickety Bridge - a delightful stop with a gorgeous shop.  We bought some wine, but most of the fun of the day was trundling along between the vineyards, sharing great company and soaking up the atmosphere.

The evening was amazing - we booked at Reuben's in Franschoek - and Reuben Riffel was in the restaurant that night - and we were seated where we could see him plating up.  What a great evening - and what amazing food!

The next day we took a slow drive back to the airport via Fairfield in Paarl, Stellenbosch and Gordon's Bay where we bid a sad farewell to Olha.