From Hermanus to Stellenbosch

Yesterday we continued from Hermanus to the wine region Stellenbosch. Before we started the journey to Stellenbosch, we wanted to enjoy the view of the sea from the 'new harbor' in Hermanus. However, it didn't look new and it wasn't particularly beautiful... so we decided to spontaneously go to Gansbaai again, but to a different viewpoint. Without a navigation system, I thought I could find my way out of the harbor area. Oops, we ended up in the middle of the townships. But somehow our panic about it has also disappeared, because the locals were and still are all super nice. So driving through the townships was not a problem. Actually, we find it much creepier how people live there :-(

On the way to Gansbaai, a family of monkeys crossed the road. It was super cute, all the cars had to stop and the monkeys leisurely walked across the street. One monkey sat on the road and scratched its belly. The cutest thing was two large monkeys carrying little baby monkeys on their backs.

When we arrived in Gansbaai, I said to Daniela: 'Wow, our rental car has done a great job so far, and since we're not going on a safari anymore, I think nothing else will happen.' Yes, we praised our self-proclaimed safari car :-) and we were proud of how we had managed everything so far. When we arrived at the viewpoint, there was a huge sign at a gate saying 'Closed'. Oh well, too bad, I wanted to turn the car around and then there was a crunch. Oops, what was THAT?? Daniela said, 'Didn't you see the steps?' Nope, what steps? As I backed up, there was another loud crunch and I saw our spoiler hanging on the road. A security man appeared and looked at me as if I had lost my mind, wondering how I could drive into the steps :-(! Yes, it happened. Bad luck! But the security man straightened out the broken part of the car. Thank you!!! We had to laugh about the situation, because we had just talked about how well everything had worked out with the car, and then this happened!

We then swiftly set off for Stellenbosch, the center of the most famous wine region in South Africa. There we found a beautifully located small wine resort as our accommodation for the next three nights. Luckily, we got an upgrade at the resort. We're now staying in a suite. Not bad at all :-)!

Since our resort is a bit outside of the city, we drove to Stellenbosch in the evening. It was bustling. Stellenbosch also benefits from having a university, so there are quite a few young people there. We really liked the city center. There are lots of great restaurants, small bistros, and ice cream cafes. After a delicious meal, we walked through some streets and bought some souvenirs.

Oh, the winner of our guessing game about the distance traveled has been determined. Congratulations to the proud winner!!! For data protection reasons, we won't mention any names, but a notification has already been sent via WhatsApp and the prize has been bought ;-)

Best regards, Anke & Daniela