The scenery is stunning on the other side of Table Mountain as well
Unlike the previous day, Wednesday was off to a good start, primarily because our daughter was feeling fine again. With no tummy troubles to concern us, we started out after breakfast by driving to the Castle of Good Hope, South Africa's oldest surviving colonial building (and still the headquarters of the Western Cape military command). Originally a clay-and-timber structure built in 1652, the current fortress was constructed between 1666 and 1679 to protect the interests of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Today, in addition to hosting military units, the castle serves as a backdrop to events including concerts, festivals and plays:
We arrived at the fortress at 0945 hours, along with a large student group. The castle is shaped as a pentagon:
It was a short wait for the key ceremony, which takes place at 1000 and 1200 on weekdays. At ten o'clock, a key is used to open the wicket gate within the main castle gate, after which a bell is rung, sentries take up positions and the key is returned to the governor's quarters (the ceremony is repeated in reverse at noon). Usually a cannon is fired as part of the ceremony, but the windy conditions on Wednesday precluded it from being done:
There are some interesting museums on the castle grounds, including the Castle Military Museum:
Another museum had exhibits on South African ceramics, as well as these early 18th-century terracotta lion statues that used to adorn the entrance to the Castle of Good Hope (replicas now greet visitors at the castle entrance). They reveal a definite South East Asian influence:
A 1778 stone beacon marking the boundary of the Dutch colony in Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape:
The background scenery is dominated by Table Mountain, of course:
A torture chamber:
The Dolphin Pool, named after the ornate dolphin fountain at its center:
The former Governor's Quarters now houses the William Fehr Collection of ceramics, furniture, oil paintings, and glass and metalware:
1820 Settlers camped on the Great Fish (Inxuba) River (1837), by Frederick Timpson I'Ons:
Table Bay in 1679 with the Dutch East Indiaman 'Africa' in the foreground (c. 1680), by Aernout Smit:
Dutch Ship in Table Bay (produced after 1650), by Jan I. Peeters. This painting is the earliest depiction of Table Bay and Table Mountain in the Fehr collection:
Posing outside the former Governor's Quarters and its 18th-century balcony with a pediment bas-relief created by German sculptor Anton Anreith:
Standing outside the Castle of Good Hope:
For lunch we went to...McDonald's. That wasn't the plan, actually. We were on our way to do some wine tasting, but wanted to stop for lunch first. My wife had chosen a Thai restaurant called Erawan that she found via her phone GPS, but when we pulled up to the door, we were told the electricity in the neighborhood was out and wouldn't come back on until mid-afternoon. So instead we ended up at a nearby Golden Arches.
Before moving to Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ at the end of July, I never gave much thought to fast food. But except for several Pizza Hut outlets, Addis is bereft of the familiar icons like KFC and Starbucks (there is an "In-and-Out Burger", but it isn't the real deal - the same goes for the local "Home Depot" and "7-Eleven"!). I never thought I would miss them, but it's funny the things you learn about yourself while traveling:
Junk food cravings satisfied, it was time for some hipster offsetting by indulging in a spot of wine tasting at Groot Constantia, an historic estate where winemaking in South Africa began:
We had already visited the estate on Monday evening when we had dinner with friends at the Jonkershuis restaurant. On Wednesday afternoon we began our tour in the manor house, which now serves as a museum (no photography permitted, unfortunately). The exterior gable was created by the same Anton Anreith who work we saw in the morning at the Castle of Good Hope:
In the tasting room Shu-E and I sampled five kinds of wine produced by the winery. I opted for the five different kinds of chocolate to go along with the wine:
Trying to look like I know what I'm doing. Regular readers of this blog are well aware that I'm more of a craft beer
We were also given a tour of the Cloete Cellar, the estate's original wine cellar:
After the tasting and the tour, we spent some time wandering about the estate's beautiful grounds:
Amber shows off the wine glasses from our tasting that my wife and I were allowed to take home as a memento:
For the return drive to central Cape Town, we took the scenic route along the Atlantic coast. To Shu-E, it reminded her of the east coast of Taiwan; for me, it recalled my several drives along California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway:
We stopped off in Camps Bay, another affluent Cape Town suburb, for a closer look at the ocean scenery:
Standing in front of the Camps Bay Tidal pool, which several brave souls were braving on this windy spring afternoon. The central part of Cape Town lay on the other side of Table Mountain:
We eventually returned to the Dutch Manor Antique Hotel. For dinner on Wednesday evening, the three of us walked the 110 meters (360 feet) along Buitengracht Street to The Famous Butcher's Grill. Perhaps in atonement for my Americanized lunch, I went full-on South African for dinner, beginning with a basket of biltong and a glass of C.B.C. Draught...:
...followed by an ostrich fillet as a main course...:
and finishing it all with a Malva pudding topped with custard and a scoop of Rooibos ice cream:
It was a great South African meal to finish up a great day in South Africa.
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