It’s early Monday morning here in Cape Town as I write this, and late Sunday night in the San Juans where I live. Kind of weird to be in such a different time zone. I’ll have to wait to publish this until around 5pm tonight to hit most of my readers on Monday morning in Washington State. I think I could write a book right now on our adventures since we landed in Dubai for a couple of nights and now in Cape Town South Africa. I’ll save that for later, and just give you a couple of highlights.
It’s raining outside as I type away which is a good thing. They have endured a four-year drought in Cape Town, so rain is a welcomed sight. Susie and I are off to see the Penguins and the Cape of Good Hope. We don’t mind the rain as it reminds us of home. Speaking of home, we have been eating out of course and the food is absolutely the best. If we ate this well at our home restaurants we would have already spent well over eight hundred bucks. In Cape Town, we can barely spend $80. on a meal for both of us which usually includes a bottle of wine and a few extra glasses. We had an amazing meal of brazed rabbit for myself and ostrich for Susie, with 5 glasses of wine, a cheese board and creme brulee`. The total came to $65. with tip! We had to pinch ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming. On top of that the service is sublime. The people here are most friendly and at the ready to make sure their customers are well cared for. It is going to be hard to eat out again when we get home.
Dubai of course is a much different story. We stayed at Five on the Palm which is an exquisite hotel. We had a chance to lay on the beach, take a bus tour, and have some very nice meals. It was here where the prices reminded us more of our home town. Of course, booze is quite expensive, because it is a Muslim country and they don’t partake of alcohol. However, that doesn’t stop them from selling it to visitors. Dubai is growing fast, and the amount of new construction we observed was staggering. The highlight of our trip there had to be meeting Nigel our server, commiserating with him as we ate next to the palm trees and pool on a warm evening. We thought it peculiar that someone from India is named Nigel. He was very engaging, told some very funny stories and took care of us beyond expectations. That was our last evening in Dubai before taking off to Cape Town. Warm memories that left us talking of perhaps going back again sometime.
Here in Cape Town, they are very proud of their wine. So much like taking a trip over to eastern Washington. I am going to try and get Susie to contribute an article on the bubbles of South Africa. We have already consumed a couple of bottles of Graham Beck Brut, which is an outstanding Sparkling wine from the Robertson Wine Valley, Franschoek . We will try many more before the end of our stay, so she should have a plethora of things to write about. Graham Beck goes for about $30. a bottle at the restaurants in Cape Town, and reminded both of us a bit of Veuve Cliqout without the steroids. I don’t think a lot of people associate South Africa with sparkling wine, but they do an awesome job with it, and I hope to bring some into the store when we get back. I’ve also enjoyed a wonderful Mourvedre and Cinsault while dining out. I am really looking forward to our visit to wine lands (Stellenbosch and Franschoek). Our first visit will be to Constantia Glen where I hope to do an interview with the wine maker for my You Tube channel. After that, we are off to visit Indaba and Simonsig among others. I will be writing about my South African wine adventures both here and on my P.I. blog… The Blue Collar Wine Guy. Stay tuned.
Cheers!
Stan The wine Man
