Luggage in hand, the next morning we finally got going, stopping at a beautiful, old, storied winery in the hills of Stellenbosch, before continuing onto Franschhoek, a lovely small town in the heart of wine country. It’s a bit of an upmarket place, but Rita had recommended a backpackers with small cabins a 20 minute walk from town, and in gorgeous surroundings. The first night we were the only people there! 

The next day we awoke to cold and fog, diminishing our plans to rent bikes and explore the wineries surrounding the town. We walked into town for coffee (which has been amazing, and great value), to use the wifi (the wifi has been much less amazing), and to attempt to charge our phones (some of the outlets accept our adapters, but many do not). Our back up plan was to walk to a winery and grab an Uber from there, but soon the sun came out, and we were surrounded by stunning mountain peaks once again. We reverted back to our original plan, and rented mountain bikes.

The bike rental place gave us a map with recommendations and we started off down the road. Our first stop was a very modern, large winery, that had amazing chocolate pinotage (a uniquely South African varietal). We decided not to wait to pet the cheetahs at the on site sanctuary, and headed off to a few more wineries, and a brewery for lunch. By the time we hit the last winery, down a stunning country road, it was time to head back to return the bikes. Of course, the way back was uphill, with the wind against us. Unsurprisingly, we were a little late due to having to retrieve my phone I had forgot at one of the wineries, but the rental people were super nice about it. 

With a couple of bottles in our bags, we headed back to the backpackers for the night, where there were a couple of people around we shared them with. The next morning we headed to Hermanus, known for its coastal walks and whale watching from the shore. We didn’t see any whales, but had a nice lunch with a great view before heading to Creation winery about 20 minutes outside of town. We were told it was not to be missed. 

The drive there was gorgeous, as was the winery itself. We signed up to try about 4 wines, but the sommelier decided that was insufficient as it was our first time there, and before we knew it we were trying a huge variety of wines (I got most of them as I was not driving), and came away with a few more bottles. 

After the winery, we decided to head to Cape Aghulus, the southernmost point of Africa, for the night. It was another gorgeous drive, until it got dark, and suddenly our nice road turned into a dirt road. Not wanting to blow a tire in the middle of nowhere in the dark, the last hour was pretty slow going. We arrived at the backpackers and after asking about food, were rushed to the only place still open, a pizza place up the road. As we arrived, the open sign was shut off. It was 7:30pm.

We managed to persuade them to cook a pizza for us, and we took it back to the hostel to have with our newly acquired wine, and plan the next few days.