Day 88: Riebeek-Kasteel to Stellenbosch

I loved our stay in Riebeek-Kasteel but, like Ga, I’m not going to miss the church bells clanging out the hour, especially at midnight.

We passed vineyards and olive tree farms on our drive into Malmesbury. The town was bigger than I expected. It’s hard to believe they are struggling with a terrible drought in the Western Cape as the fields are all so green but the dams are dry. 

The beautiful Stellenbosch and Great Drakenstein mountains surround the Stellenbosch area and it always gives me a thrill when I arrive in this chilled university town. It is the second oldest European settlement in SA after Cape Town. It is also known as Eikestad or the ‘City of Oaks’ due to the large number of oak trees that grace the streets and homesteads. These were originally planted by the towns founder, Simon van der Stel.

We had a giggle as we drove past the wine farms on the outskirts of the town as UB40 song ‘Red, red wine’ came on the radio.

We booked into the Stellenbosch Hotel, housed in a some of the old original Cape Dutch facades that have been restored over the years.

Robs had late lectures and a digs formal to attend. The life of a student – they have digs warmings at  the beginning of the year, digs formals in the middle and digs coolings at the end of the year. They celebrate everything and anything, like Wednesday nights are ‘Klein Saterdag’, so they have to party. This year is even worse as all her friends turn 21, so more parties. Gareth was spending the night in Paarl with a friend and a bleak Kirsty was working back in Joburg.

This left Gray and I alone, the children should know better.  We spent a few hours catching up on admin and then took a stroll down the road to Brampton Wine Bar, owned by our friend Tim Hutchinson.  It was a stunning afternoon and we chilled on the pavement sipping Sauvignon Blanc. Two bottles later we changed to Cab Sav and shared a snack platter. By now it was dark and we took a stroll around town, found a delicious ice cream bar and then finished off the evening with Irish coffees and Amarulas.  What a treat.