Stellenbosch (5-6)

Tuesday I took a train to Stellenbosch. This was a local train and was not the most comfortable, but it was OK and it got me there. After leaving the city behind, we entered the countryside with its fields and mountains.

Station stops were not announced; so I thought it would be challenging to know when to get off. I looked at the board with the stops for all of the lines, figured out which line I was on, and, as we got closer to my stop, tried to keep track of how many stations until Stellenbosch, as sometimes I wasn’t able to see the station’s name. When I got up to look at the sign the third time, the woman across from me noticed, asked which station I wanted, and told me Stellenbosch was the next stop. How nice of her. I really appreciated the assistance. We smiled at each other as I thanked her and left.

When I got off the train, there were no taxis in sight; so I asked a security guard and he pointed me toward town. I ended out walking to the guesthouse, facilitated by a map I picked up at the Tourist Information center and a few other security people, which are abundant in Stellenbosch. When I commented about the lack of taxis at the guesthouse, the woman told me that there are taxis but you have to call them. Lesson learned for the next few legs of the journey.

The guesthouse was another old house on a street on which most of the old homes are now guesthouses, as was the case in Cape Town. It’s a good use for the lovely, old homes. The guesthouse folder had a description of what the rooms originally were. 

My room was the room for the oldest daughter, which I thought was appropriate.

Wednesday I had a slow day in town. I left the guesthouse late and walked around enjoying the beautiful day in this lovely city. Founded in 1679, Stellenbosch is the second oldest city in South Africa, following Cape Town. The central area is lovely with its white buildings. My first stop was Moedergemeente, the Mother Church, a Dutch Reformed Church founded in 1686. The current building was completed in the early 18^th century with extensions added in the 19^th century. 

The stained glass windows are truly awesome.

The village museum has four houses from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Each house had a woman dressed in period clothing who explained a bit about the house. The oldest was built in 1709 and is the oldest restored building in the country. It is very basic. Of special interest are the herbs hanging from the ceiling to obscure the odors of the house. 

The other three houses were for wealthy families in the late 18^th and mid-19^th centuries. I thought about how they reminded me of houses in the U.S. from that era.

Stellenbosch is known for its architecture; so it was fun to notice the different styles of buildings. Most of the old buildings are now restaurants and guesthouses. 

One street, Dorp Street, is known for the oak trees lining both sides. Since it is now autumn, some of the leaves—Japanese maple and some oaks—have changed color. 

The nearby mountains are visible above the houses.

When looking at things to do in Stellenbosch, I noticed a township tour. When I asked about it, I learned that there is a township outside the city. I hadn’t realized that there are townships outside the major cities. People from the township sell their goods, the same as ones in Cape Town, at stalls along the squares.

After walking around town, I strolled through part of the university’s botanical garden, a lovely and peaceful place to finish the day.

I booked a Vine and Dine tour for Thursday. In the morning I joined the Bites & Sites walking tour. We were a group of older people, the others being a local couple (Danish man and South African woman) and an American travel agent. The leader gave us some interesting bits of history as we walked through a small section of town. One interesting building was a bread shop/coffee shop where the local woman works. She was on the tour to experience it and to see how they can work together better. 

Another was a butchery where we saw pieces of meat hanging to become jerky when they dried. We then stopped at a wine shop to sample a couple wines along with bread sticks and jerky from the shops. 

When we walked past the town hall, our guide pointed out the artwork in front of it. I’d noticed it on Wednesday and thought it a bit odd, but she pointed out that through a camera lens it becomes quite clear that it is an image of Nelson Mandela, the image being formed with the metal, shadows, and a few lines. After understanding that, I was quite fascinated with the interaction between the two.  

Stellenbosch is also known for its sculptures. There are a number of art pieces around town. These are changed each year as artists create pieces for the new theme. At the end of the exhibition, they are sold and many end out being donated to become permanent sculptures. When I was there, the exhibits were in transition; in some places there were signs but no sculpture while some sculptures were still there.

The next “bites” stop was lunch at an old hotel, which was where the travel agent was staying. There we had a sampler lunch, which was delicious. It included fish cake, mince tart, chicken pie, sweet potato mixture, chutney, relish, and rice. 

After lunch, we crossed the street for tea and dessert, another delicious sampling of malva pudding, sago (tapioca) custard, and cheese cake with three teas—rooibos, buchu, and honeybush. It was fun to try two teas I hadn’t heard of as well as the desserts.

After dessert it was time for the Vine-hopper part of my tour. The guide put me in a van which took me to one of the wine estates to join the group there. Stellenbosch is famous for its wines, and there are many old estates where grapes are grown and wine is produced. On these tours, you can get off at an estate, sample their wine for a small price, and then hop back on the van to go to another estate on its route. Since I’m not a big wine drinker, I wanted to do this mostly to see the estates and to enjoy the scenery of the grape fields and mountains. It was a beautiful day; so the scenery was lovely. I also enjoyed some of the wines.

The group I joined at 2:30 had been doing this since 9:00. They were two women from Johannesburg and two from Switzerland. By this time they were great friends. 

The first estate we went to was the one where you can sample wine and chocolate together. Each wine is matched with a specific chocolate, also produced by the estate. I chose the combination with four of each. At the end, we were given a sample of the most expensive wine on their list. It was the one I liked least. I liked a couple of the wines, but I especially enjoyed the chocolates. It was fun reading the descriptions of the wine and chocolate. At the last estate, we could select three wines from their extensive list. Since the others were on their last day of traveling before going to Cape Town to fly home, they were purchasing bottles of wines they liked. I bought a couple bars of chocolate since like it better and it’s small and non-breakable.

Back in town, we all went to dinner together at a pub that the J-burg women had seen that serves burgers. I had an ostrich burger, which was quite tasty. It was a fun way to finish my enjoyable day with good people.

Friday I had half a day before leaving. I decided that it was a good time to shop for Megan’s list of foods I have to try. I had shown it to one of the J-burg women who had a good time telling me about the items. As I had suspected, they were candy and chips. It was useful to know where in the supermarket to look for these treats. I’d seen a couple in Namibia but had never bought them. Since I don’t spend much time in the candy or chips sections, I don’t know if they’re all available in Namibia or not, but I suspect that they are. Buying them was fun as eating them will be.