Babylonstoren

         When we were at Mosaic Lodge and we told the “Brits” that we were staying at Babylonstoren, they were so impressed. “How did you manage to get reservations?” That answer was all due to our Elsewhere travel agent, Natalee. Remember, we found her through Lonely Planet? This place is quite unlike any other place we have stayed. when we mentioned it to anyone, they were positive we would love it. It is a wine farm (not called vineyards here), a water buffalo farm, that also has huge vegetable gardens, orchards, Peking ducks, guinea fowl, chickens, and of course roosters which we heard this AM at 5:30. Everything is farm to table. And everything is free range and as organic as possible.

The lounge with a serve yourself bar

Dennis working hard on the blog

Dennis in front of our room at the farm house

The living room of the farm house  

        Our first reservation was at the Bakery. The walk there was short but gave us a chance to see a bit of what the farm has to offer.

        The food at the Bakery was from a set menu and we couldn’t handle it. Just the salads to start us off were too much. There was a caprese salad and a vegetable and fruit salad that was enough for at least six people. This was followed by a mushroom ravioli bowl and then as many slices of pizza as you could eat, topped off with chocolate chip gelato with figs. Do you need to take a walk, just from reading this?

        This morning we went on a tour of the water buffalo farm. It is quite an operation. Very well-run, beautifully maintained with every thought given to the comfort of the animals. We got to put a female name for a new baby into a lottery. 

        All of this was followed by an amazing breakfast and then a short walk to see some of the many shops that are here. 

Dennis is out for a bike ride. I am waiting to hear about the resolution of a travel glitch, and even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be bike riding that is not a good option. The old saying, once you know how to ride, you never forget? That is so not true. 

He was joined on his ride by this big guy.

        Now for the travel glitch—Lufthansa cancelled our flight. So after a frantic call to our travel agent in Indiana we are confirmed on the next flight back which is Thursday rather than Wednesday. We are crossing our fingers that this will go through. And we are relying on our South African travel agent, Natalee to find us a room for Wednesday night as Babylonstoren is all booked up. 

        

        To drown our potential sorrows we went to the wine tasting room…

A snack for one, that we couldn’t finish.

Seven wines per tasting, we could finish that!

        After the tasting we headed for the meeting point of the Mountain drive again with Morne. An absolutely stunning drive, culminating with a picnic at the top of the mountain.

 

        What a lovely way to end the afternoon. And our travel plans seem to be moving ahead. Natalee found us a place to stay in CapeTown and Debbie got us confirmed on flights. We’re good to go. With one last  word from Mr. Dennis—

        Today for me, was the highlight of our African trip. Yes, the lodge we stayed in was wonderful but the mountain drive with our guide Morne (More-nay) was exceptional. Babylonstoren (the lodge) encompasses approximately 3000 acres of land in the Drakenstein Valley. Accommodations? Outstanding! Great rooms and staff. Activities? Even better but the drive up the side of the mountain was mind boggling (that’s the word I was looking for). To look over this valley from 3000 feet above sea level? Our pics don’t do it justice. 

        Seeing acres and acres of vineyards that are irrigated by miles and miles of 1/2 inch irrigation lines and thousands of posts supporting the vines, I asked Morne, “Where does this water come from?” He said, “The river we have access to.” I noticed land that was fallow and asked, “Why isn’t it being used?” His response, “Land is not the issue, water is!” We have all the land we can use but without water?”  Where have I heard that before? The Colorado River through the USA? Water? Climate Change? It finally struck home with me…and home we’ll be headed for shortly.

 

Cape Peninsula

 What a day we had beginning with the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. The plants and the flowers were so vibrant, it was snap, snap, snap with the camera. I just loved all of the colors. Alex took us through the shaded areas as much as possible. There was one shortcut up a very steep hill that I wasn’t sure I would make. But make it I did.

        I wasn’t feeling too good all day and I kept apologizing to both Dennis and Alex. I had taken an Instant Imodium and then another and then a regular Imodium pill and finally one last instant. So I really didn’t want to be too far from the facilities. I have no idea why I wasn’t up to par. Dennis and I had eaten exactly the same things.  It was a bit like the golf joke about hit the ball and drag Fred.

        But this was such a beautiful place, I didn’t want to miss anything.

        From here we drove down the coast of the peninsula to see some just incredible views of the ocean. Cynthia sat in the back hoping she wouldn’t need a rest room. 😨

        From here we drove to the Cape Point Nature Reserve. We took the gondola up to the top of Point Cape. There was to be load shedding at 2:00 PM so if we wanted to go up, we needed to walk down. We wanted to go up, so up we went.

            After this we met Alex in the restaurant and had lunch and a very tall cold beer. There were several guests who joined us. 

Luckily they didn’t seem to need the restroom.

        On the road again, this time headed for the penguin colony. This was something we really wanted to see. It is a lively colony of tuxedo clad little guys, waddling, braying and doing all sorts of things…

        After spending time here it was time to head back to Ashbourne House. I collapsed and Dennis went swimming. A very good day!

A word from Dennis—

        Well, our African holiday is coming to a close. Our trip yesterday with Alex to the Botanical Gardens, peninsula where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans collide and culminating in Simon’s Town where 2700 penguins live, love, and breed was outstanding. Cindy’s pics and commentary will fill you in. It was mind blowing but it was a long, full day. Alex didn’t want us to miss anything as he’s very proud of his home here in South Africa. He picked us up at 8:30 AM and dropped us around 7:00 PM. We estimate we put on close to 250 miles. I’m going to look into this further but I estimate, we’ve (our guides) have driven us 1500 - 2000 miles since we landed in Namibia on January 3rd (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and finally South Africa). As I wrote this and think back, it’s kind of a blur but thanks to Cindy’s blog with text and especially pictures, it brings it back into focus. 

        We just arrived at Babylonstoren and will be here for 3 days and I’ll fill you in. Oh, this place also has complimentary “alcoholic beverages, either made to order or self-serve. I’ll try to remember what we see and do so I can pass it on to you. Traveling Buddy, Cindy the Nag has been out here 3 times since I began writing, asking, “Are you done yet? I wanna add it to the blog.” Did I also mention we’ve been together 24/7 for almost 6 weeks now?? Ain’t love grand? 😏