Stellenbosch, South Africa, Africa
Wedgeview Country House & Spa

We had a good night’s sleep, had a fantastic breakfast in the restaurant at Wedgeview, and decided to take a drive into Stellenbosch to do a little shopping. The city center is really nice, filled with nice artisanal shops and restaurants. We checked out a couple of markets that were open because it was a weekend, and then headed back to the hotel. We had rented a couple of bicycles and they were being dropped off at the hotel for us by 10am.

We got on our bikes and headed off to do some wine tasting. Our first stop was De Waal, and it was a great choice. We met a really nice woman who worked for De Waal named Glynn. We had a five wine tasting including a special edition Top of the Hill Pinotage, which was excellent. Glynn was nice enough to offer us an extra tasting glass before we headed out, so we were both definitely feeling the wine when we got back onto our bikes.

We had a beautiful ride down through the vineyards until we got to our next winery called Spier. We had never heard of it until a couple of days ago, but everyone seems to know it here as one of the bigger wine producers. We found out about it because they offer a picnic lunch option that we thought sounded nice. We booked them online last night, and get to pick out what we wanted to come in the basket, and what kind of wine would be included. Just like everything else down here, it was incredibly cheap for what we got.

We ate the picnic next to a river at Spier and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect place to have lunch. The basket was full with breads and meats and fruits, and even a couple of pieces of cheesecake. The wine we chose was fantastic. It was a Chardonnay – Pinot Noir. We have only had this kind of wine once before and it was in Casablanca, Chile. This one was just as good as the one in Chile. In fact, it was so good that we decided to skip our last wine tasting of the day and to just buy another bottle of wine at Spier and drink it there.

We moved over to the lake to have our second bottle of wine, and we were really feeling it by the end. We stuck around until about 6pm, and then we had to head back to the hotel because the sun would be setting soon. Unfortunately, the back tire on my bike started going flat on the way down to Spier, and the gears started skipping as well, so it was a bit of a nightmare getting back to Wedgeview (which was all uphill), but I managed it.

We got a shower and changed before responsibly getting an Uber down to the center of Stellenbosch. We had been recommended a restaurant called The Big Easy, which sounded very cheesy, but it ended up being beautiful. It looked like an old plantation house, and the restaurant was spread out over a bunch of different rooms. For our last dinner in South Africa I had another steak, and it was excellent, as usual. South Africa definitely has the best meat I’ve ever had anywhere in the world.

We are back at the hotel and absolutely exhausted from such a big day. We have to pack tomorrow morning and head out to go back to Cape Town and see a bunch of stuff before we fly home tomorrow night. Right now, I really don’t feel like doing any of that!