Wine and dine in South Africa

[gardkarlsen]

Hi

I just came back from a three week trip to South Africa. It was great to leave a cold Norway behind to find a sunny and warm destination in South Africa. My wife comes from Johannesburg so we spent most of our time there with the family but we also went to Cape Town. South Africa is big on wine production and they export quite a lot these days. But the best part is that you can actually go out to eat at restaurants and find great wine at a reasonable price. In Norway the restaurants triple the price of a bottle of wine just to make some money so most of the time you can't find a bottle of wine costing less than 60 USD (keep in mind the dollar is very low to the dollar). But In South Africa it was possible to get a bottle of wine at a nice restaurant starting at 100 ZAR (about 13 USD). Most restaurants had an excellent wine selection but most only offered South African wines of course.

In addition to this we did a day tour out of Cape Town into the wineland. We had 3 stops on the way and we got to taste 5 different wines at each place. Places like Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschhoek contains lots and lots of vineyards where you can buy and taste wine.

So I can recommend South Africa if you are looking for dining and enjoying wine I'll get back to more details and pictures in a trip report on my homepage later on.

 

[Hugomarink]

I was lucky enough to travel to Cape Town back in 1999 and take a day trip to nearby wine region. It is indeed a great place and is stunningly beautiful on top of the good wine and friendly people at the wineries. I live just an hour from the Napa/Sonoma wine regions in California so I go wine-tasting up there quite often. While the wine scene in SA is definitely smaller in scale than that of Napa/Sonoma, the area itself is even more beautiful. I certainly hope to go back there someday.

 

[Infinity]

Glad you had a good time. South African hospitality is some of the best in the world.

Only good for the wine? How about the woman, beaches and arguably the most picturesque city in the world in Cape Town. Not to mention the game lodges
and surfing. Jeffries Bay has, I believe, one of the longest breaks in the world.

Brian

 

[gardkarlsen]

Hi

Well, when it comes to the women I'm already married to a South African girl :laugh: When we went to South Africa a few years back we had a wonderful safari. Check out some of the pictures in this trip report http://gardkarlsen.com/djuma_vuyatela_safari.htm

I totally agree that Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I never get tired of going back there. The visit during Easter this year was my 4th visit to the city.

 

[gardkarlsen]

Here is my Cape Town trip report with pictures and links by the way: http://gardkarlsen.com/Cape_Town_trip_report.htm