Even more than yesterday, today delivered a sense of the huge contrasts in this country.
As we drove out of Cape Town we went past mile after mile of shanty towns. The population in Cape Town is estimated to be 4 million, and 1.5 live in these settlements. They cover 30 square miles. The average "house" looked to be about the size of a large garden shed and was pieced together from random bits of corrugated metal, wood and plastic sheeting. These sit on grids of straight streets with central areas provided by the government for water and toilets. They spread in places as far as the eye can see and present a strange, squalid contrast to the verdant fields and dramatic mountains around them. Our guide told us these are mostly country people who have come to town for better opportunities. One can only imagine how awful their lives must have been if the shanty towns are better.
One positive observation. Despite the ramshakle appearance, I could see no garbage. Whether it's that these people are still very proud, or weather they are too poor to even have anything to throw away, they don't seem to live surrounded by the drifts of trash that characterise poor areas in the UK or US.
But then we crossed into the Stellenbosch Valley and, hey presto, you could be in Northern California with some strange, Dutch inspired architecture and a lot of African craft stores. The mountains are a bit more extreme than other wine regions I've been to (thrusting, stony peaks) but the gentle, vine covered slopes on the foothills could be France, California or Italy.
We went to two wineries and tasted a variety of wines at each. The first was a small place, built to look like a Tuscan villa. The second was much larger, and built around much older buildings in the Dutch style. The wine was good, but ironically I didn't think much of it was as good as what we have been served at meals thus far.
The first winery, Waterford, was built on an Italian model and the buildings and plantings screamed Tuscany. The winemaker, Kevin Arnold, hosted the tasting himself. (Photo above.) I do love that; wine is so much more interesting when the guy who made it is taking you through what he was trying to achieve. I was interested to learn that the South African wine industry is 300+ years old. After Europe they are the most established and hardly deserve the label "New World", but they are still suffering from decades of embargo.
The second place, Morgenhof, was one of the oldest farms in the valley and had a variety of 17th century cape Dutch buildings. (These are lovely, large, single story buildings with Dutch gables and thatched roofs.) The ethos of the winery, though, was all French. One of the Cointreau heirs bought it about a decade ago and has been dedicated to creating a grand French vineyard in the New World.
The experience was a bit commercial, but still fun.
Afterwards, we spent an hour wandering around the town of Stellenbosch itself. Amazingly cute, clean, tree-lined and prosperous. The only clue we were in Africa were the art galleries and tourist items on sale.
So, home from the wine day just long enough for a quick dip in the hotel pool. Then off to our nicest dinner of the trip.
Grute Schur is the official residence of the president of South Africa. Don't think White House. It's much more like a medium sized National Trust property in some nice parkland. The house is many hundreds of years old but what you see now is late 19th c thanks to its most famous resident, Cecil Rhodes.
We did formal group shots on the front steps, then adjourned to the gardens where a traditional African choral group performed over cocktails. Then we moved to the back of the house, where a traditional courtyard garden had been covered by a modern tent. We had a formal presentation, followed by some wonderful entertainment by an operatic trio along "three tenors" lines".
This was a night for celebration, as each of us were lauded for what we'd contributed to the company over the past year. Fortunately, the "work" side of things ended with that recitation of our hard graft. After that, it was just a bunch of fun people having a wonderful time in surroundings that were almost embarrassingly lush. I sucked enjoyment out of every moment, knowing that while I may return to South Africa, it's unlikely I'll be having dinner in the president's garden again any time soon.
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