Till We Meet again...

We left Cape Town for Buenos Aries on the 20th July at about 11am. 

The last lingering glance at the beautiful city. Taken from the plane after we took off. Can see the Table Mountain, Lion's Head, the city and even the waterfront. I seldom feel sad when leaving a visiting city but this was how I felt leaving Cape Town. I felt the four days stay was just too short as there were still so many places we didn't get to see.

The city gets smaller and smaller...

as we gets further and higher. 

Bye and hope to see you soon.

We arrived Buenos Aires on the 20th july at about 3pm after almost 9 hours of travelling. Another 5 hours behind Malaysian time, that means a total of 11 hours behind, which translate to 'total chaos' for me. 

See you next in Buenos Aires!   

Cape Wine Lands

The Cape Wine Lands

The next day, we set out east on the highway N1 to the wine lands.

 

This was very much the scene all the way. Rows after rows of vineyards with the mountain as backdrop. As it is winter the vines are bare and hibernating waiting for spring to arrive. This is also one of the reason why I want to come back to Cape Town during late summer or early autumn when the vineyards will be in full bloom. 

We chose to stop by in this beautiful town, Franschhoek, east of Cape Town which is famous for its wine and food. Franschhoek, literally means 'French Corner' and the french heritage is evident in the names of streets, buildings and restaurants. 

  

Houguenot Street

Thyme??

When the stomach summoned, we turned to the GPS and landed in this small restaurant in the Lindhorst vineyard (it has always been my dream to dine at a vineyard). Very basic, unpretentious and down-to-earth which also reflects the food that they served.

From the restaurant you look out to the tree house for children and miles and miles of vineyards.

Inside the restaurant.

House wine, Rosa and white. 

There was no salad listed in the menu, they serve whatever the fresh produce is for that day and believe me, this is so fresh it could have been just harvested from their backyard. It didn't need any dressing as the feta cheese went so well with it.

Carbonara at its best. The creamy sauce was silky smooth and flavored just right. We were told the cook is not a trained chef but loves to cook and has been cooking for many years. It showed in the dishes we were served.

  
When we asked about the steak, we were told there is only rump available (that's how limited the menu is). See how spartanly it was served? But every bite on that plate is worth its weight in gold, both meat and potatoes. Truly one of the tastiest steak we ever had without any sauce (just salt and pepper) and perfectly done in medium rare. 

A platter we didn't get to taste. Someone's order which the friendly waiter brought over to our table for me to take a shot, so kind of him. 

I lost the receipt for this meal but I remember the total was R160 which work out to be about Rm72.

This has to be one of the most memorable meal of this trip. The ambience, wine, food and company just come together to make it magically.

Cape of Good Hope

This is the best device for travelers like us who find map reading so, so stressful, more so than the driving itself. I remember the time we were in New Zealand. I always seem to be delegated the job of navigator, and I never failed to get us further than anywhere we planned to go and by the time we did get to the intended destination, tempers and tantrums would have flared and taken away all the fun and anticipation of the new place no matter how beautiful. All you wanted to do is to sleep off the stress.      

This GPS which cost only R40 ~ RM18 to rent is absolutely godsend. All you need to do is know the name of the place you want to arrive at (even some restaurants are listed), key in and press 'GO'. It will tell you to turn left or right at certain junction, drive certain distance and we never got lost, best part if you miss a turn or take a wrong turn it just 'recalculates' and gets you back on track.

Never intended to rent a car here in Cape Town until K found out that GPS are available. Glad we did because the other alternative was to follow tour groups. We are not very keen to do that as we hate keeping time and schedule on a holiday.

We had the car for two whole days and managed to go south to the cape of good hope and east to the wine lands of South Africa.

The 'light' breakfast we had before setting out...

A huge croissant.

 

A crusty top muffin with soft center. I am beginning to like the idea of a cup of cappuccino on a cold morning. 

Very good homemade apricot and strawberry preserves.

The scenery all the way to Cape of Good Hope was so breathtaking, it made us stop and slow down so many times. For a trip that was scheduled to arrive (according to the GPS) in about 45 minutes it took us more than two hours to get there. 

Entrance to the Cape Of Good Hope

This national park which encompasses the southernmost portion of the cape peninsular is rugged, unspoiled and very scenic. 

The energy of the ocean in this area was so strong it made me giddy.

This is not the most southern point but just the the most South-Western point of the African Continent.

On the way back from the Cape of Good Hope, we stopped by  a quaint little town called Simon's Town. It is a historical naval town.

We decided to have an early dinner at Bertha's, a restaurant right by the waterfront in Simon's Town. 

Black Chicken Salad (R49 ~ Rm22)

Salad with blackened chicken (blackening comes from the butter charring the pan and not from the spices). Cajun cuisine?  

Mussels (R36 ~ Rm16)

Not too satisfied with the mussels we had the night before in Quay Four, K ordered this starter again. This was so good we were licking up every drop of the creamy sauce (flavored with a hint of white wine and herbs).

Pickled Fish (R58 ~ Rm 26)

Thought I would be a little adventurous and order this pickled fish. What was I expecting?? Hinava?? Anyway, it was boiled fish that was marinated with vinegar and spices. The fish was hard and dry while the marinade tasted weird - nothing I could identified with. I took a bite and just couldn't continue and K fully satisfied with his most amazing dish couldn't help either. We doggie bagged it and gave it to one of the hotel valet.

Fish and Chips (R65 ~ Rm30)

I ended up with this no-fail fish and chips dish. Very well done, fresh, juicy and crispy. 

Calamari Steaks (R60 ~ Rm27)

This dish K ordered is out of this world. Stole almost half from him in the pretext of exchange.

Sooo delicious...chewy yet tender, grilled to perfection with all the juicy sweetness sealed in by the caramelized surface. 

Cape Town - V&A Waterfront

We alighted the city tour bus at the Victoria And Alfred Waterfront. Read more about this most charming and bustling waterfront here. We spent the rest of the day here but there were just too many things going on to be covered in a day. 

A guitarist preforming with an instrument made out of a Castrol motor oil tin can. 

Another with a saxophone.

 

A group performance of native music. They even have CD recordings for sale.

Saw this seal and many more at the jetty. Very beautiful animals. Notice the neck, looks like it has some leash round it? These are cord or noose cutting into the seal's flesh. It is the result of fishing line, raffia cords, plastic ropes etc that find their way to the water. Being very playful animals the seals swarm into the noose. As they grow the noose gets tighter and cuts deeper into the flesh eventually causing death if not removed. It is not an easy task to get near the animal to cut the noose as they are very alert and can be aggressive.  Another victim to human's pollution. 

Took a cruise out of the harbor to the open ocean and K was busy snapping away...

at all the yachts and boats that rolled by and I yelled and waved at him 'Hi, I am here, remember?' but to no avail as he was totally engrossed with the passing crafts. 

 

This boat 'Susan Kruger' was used to ferry prisoners to and fro Robben Island (about 7km from Cape Town) where a maximum security prison was housed but now is a museum.  It is so famous because Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 imprisonment years incarcerated there and was only released from Pollsmoore Prison in 1990. In 1993 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He celebrated his 90th birthday on 18th July, 2008. 

The Nobel Square

The four nobel prize laureates: Luthuli (1960), Tutu (1984), De Klerk (1993) and Mandela (1993).

Below are the many facades of the waterfront:

 

By evening the whole waterfront becomes even more magically enchanting.

The swinging bridge.

The clock tower.

As it is winter here in Cape Town the sun sets very early, by 5.30 it is already dark. 

Only then we started looking for food. Earlier on I spied a huge crowd in a restaurant we passed and I as usual applied my father's rule of thumb - 'a restaurant with a crowd is a restaurant with good food'. 

This is our first proper dinner in Cape Town so I wanted a little ambience too. All this lead us to Quay Four, a place by the sea front, alfresco and very quaint. K suggested another one called 'Ocean Basket' which he had tried before and like it too but I was dead set on Quay Four. Big mistake as far as food was concerned. I think the thumb's rule only applies to Chinese eateries. Anyway, the setting was fantastic and the company was right so we made the most of it and did have a very good evening. 

Quay Four

For starter, we had mussels (R29~ Rm13). The cream sauce as you can see was very thick and also too sweet for my liking but K thought it was ok. The mussels were very fresh and that made the dish palatable. 

Mushroom Salad (R46 ~ RM21) 

Good fresh produce and a huge portion.

Hake (R65 ~ RM30)

This was the only good dish. The Hake was fresh and moist inside its crunchy crust. Hake, I learned is a fish very closely related to cod with the taste and texture quite similar too.  

BBQ baby pork ribs (R59 ~ RM 26) 

The sauce was good but I tasted frozen meat and that put me off. The freezing must also be one of the reasons why the meat was dry.

Had this fantastic bottle of Domaine Chandon to celebrate our stay in Cape Town and life together.  

Btw, I am leaving for Japan tonight for a 5 days trip. It is not a holiday and has very tight schedule planned  everyday but I am an optimist so I am bringing my camera along. The posts for the rest of my trip to Cape Town and Buenos Aires will have to be put on hold for a while. Have a lovely weekend!