Exception to the Rule in Stellenbosch

Previous post on South Africa, you'll find here

Myself I haven't the slightest interest in wine, but for those who do I suppose South Africa has quite a lot to offer also in that area. Therefore M had quite looked forward to the stay at a vineyard guesthouse in Stellenbosch, a charming old university town in the heart of South Africa's wineroute situated some miles east of Cape Town. Some nice wine sampling, for some, and a good dinner would be just the perfect end of a long day in the car. Little did we know...

We arrived at the Knoerhoek Vineyard late afternoon and was greeted in a way that can only be described as inhospitable and rude, by an elderly woman who could hardly speak English. The room we got was far from the nice ones as seen in the pictures, but more of a shabby hostel one. Since I very much take notice of details I didn't find it very appealing to see cheap soap filled in old bottles of more expensive brands for example... The fan in the room was making so much noise it couldn't stay switched on during the night, which was too bad considering the temperature that time of year...

The information about the fact that in order to eat at the inhouse restaurant you had to preorder well in advance hadn't been given... The place was fully booked - by unbelievably noisy and uncongenial golfplaying German seniors... I let it be unsaid which one of these attributes that made them so unpleasant... - and we had to look elsewhere for dinner. I can't help but using the words *of course* now, as in of course we were given the completely wrong driving directions for another restaurant...

We got lost, in the pretty much pitch dark surroundings of Stellenbosch. We ended up at a 7-11 shop in some strange neighbourhood, where I stayed in the car while M stocked up on *delicacies* - can't say it was all that comfortable... Although I got treated to a strange and rather entertaining mini-show when a drunken man suddenly appeared in the dark answering a call of nature, trying to relieve himself beside the building - right outside our car... -, and then frighten the hugest rat I've ever seen, who factually ran straight into the wall trying to get away from what he/she probably saw as a very daunting Nemesis. Myself I just counted the minutes until we could get back to the guesthouse with all that wonderful delicacies that the tummy ached for by then...

I suppose all is relative when it comes to what can be considered as culinary delights... But I'm pretty sure none of the above things can be considered first class delicacies... However, even if the great expectations of a lovely stay and great food at a vineyard came to naught, it was rather lovely to sit at that "balcony" outside the shabby room, having the non-five-star-picnic and looking up at an amazing pitch black yet star-spangled sky. The kind hardly ever visible when living in or close to a city or in a densely populated area.

Our room is the one with the open door on the upper floor. Outside my knapsack is waiting to leave...

The breakfast and its staff was really lovely - even though the roisters above had made quite a mess indoors... - and we had such distinguished company while eating.

Since we were on *a bit* of a tight schedule we didn't have much time strolling the streets of the town of Stellenbosch - which was a pity indeed - but I did get the first kind of fairly decent latte there anyway. At Mugg & Bean, by an employee/proprietor that must be one of the most, if not the most, accommodating ones I've ever met. Borderline servile really. Strange experience indeed.

So my one and only close encounter with a South African vineyard, and it's so much talked about hospitality was far from a pleasant one, unfortunately. I hope it was a complete and utter exception to a rule. At least it was a complete and utter abnormal experience compared to all the other lovely welcomes and stays we had at different guesthouses in South Africa.

Next post will be about our drive to Cape Town, including penguins, Sirocco and Good Hope, so stay tuned.