No Itinerary for Cape Town
When I arrived in Cape Town, the first this I did was to call Cape Town Car Rentals to hire a car so I could travel freely to anywhere I wanted to go. I has an itinerary, but I also felt the need to leave it behind and just drive, maybe even get lost. I had a whole month to explore South Africa, but maybe I’d keep my itinerary in my pocket just in case.
My first stop outside of Cape Town was Somerset West then on to Sir Lowry’s Pass. I stopped the car and had a spectacular view of the Boland, along with Cape Town and Table Mountain barely visible in the horizon. I continued on through the scenic orchards from Grabouw to Villiersdorp. I spent the night there and had dinner and a most wonderful freshly baked fruit pie for dessert. The next morning I headed to Worcester, the gateway leading to the Breede River Valley. Apparently, it’s the largest fruit and wine producing area in the Western Cape. I stopped by briefly to visit a winery and tasted some very dry red wines, a semi-sweet white wine and sparkling dry wine. I also enjoyed a delightful lunch at the restaurant at the winery.
I decided at this point to not follow my itinerary and wing it, as it were. I found a nice scenic route in Robertson Valley, another wine area, then I travelled about 12 kilometers and ran into Viljoensdrif, located on the banks of the Breede River. Viljoensdrif is also know for it’s wine-making process. Going off my itinerary, I still managed to find excellent wineries. But, I did have enough wine for one day, so instead of visiting the winery I took a nice relaxing cruise on the Uncle Ben riverboat. I was pleased to see and hear an abundance of bird life, beautiful fauna and watch a few fishermen catch Bass. What was even the best part of the riverboat cruise is I could make my own picnic basket from the deli offshore and bring it on the boat. I even shared my picnic basket with several of the other tourist and had a delightful time. Hmmm, I think not following my itinerary was a good choice.