Day 15 - Stellenbosch

We can breathe a sigh of relief. Charley looks like shit, but we can probably go to Stellenbosch. So shower, pack our things, have breakfast, make friends and exchange email addresses with the German-speaking waitress, get Charley into the car and on the road again. At least we have more than 4 hours of driving ahead of us, the longest stretch of the whole trip. But hey, we'll manage. Since there is no highway here, only country roads, everything takes its time. While Charley sat suffering in the back of the car, Vera and I enjoyed the scenery. Charley was no longer feeling sick, but she apparently dislocated a vertebra from lying down so much and had terrible headaches, poor thing. Nevertheless, she held up bravely and suffered only very quietly. We took many photos and videos of the area - mountains, weather, valleys, roads. A beautiful route. It could have been America. In Berrydale, we had a cappuccino and filled up the tank before continuing. We arrived at our hotel in Stellenbosch around 3 PM. Charley was completely exhausted and had to release some pressure. When we checked in, we immediately asked if there was the possibility of a massage, which fortunately there was, and we booked it right away... of course, for all three of us. Now we could relax a little, then each of us could have a nice young lady massage us, and then we could go eat after some more relaxation.

I was unfortunately very disappointed with the dinner and drinks in the evening. Firstly, almost all the wines were only available by the bottle, with only four wines available by the glass, of which only one was a red wine. Quite sad for such a big winery where we are. That was the first disappointment. Secondly, the red wine could have been from Aldi, nothing special. Thirdly, I ordered a medium ribeye steak, which firstly was not a ribeye steak, secondly, it was stringy, and thirdly, it was tough like rubber and closer to well done. I had to send it back. The potatoes were also super salty and the beans were almost raw. Afterwards, I at least got an edible steak, although again it wasn't a ribeye steak and had some tendons in it. But you can always have bad luck. Then Vera and I wanted to do a wine tasting at the bar, and I already knew what I was interested in. However, you couldn't choose, but instead got the red house wine, the white, another white, and a rosé. I decline. I already had the red one and the rest wasn't red. I don't want it. Grrrr. Okay, then I'll at least have a delicious Martini. But even that didn't taste good, which Vera confirmed when she took a sip and really knows exactly how it should taste. There's something off here. Too bad.

At least we smoked a joint with the old local Berry (I just stood there) and talked a bit about South Africa, God, and the world. He was like the Indian you only encounter in America and he said the profound sentence "Only people who have never been to war want to talk about war". Amen. And then we each disappeared into our rooms, with a glass of wine in hand. And here I am now, taking the last sip of my wine and thanking my loyal readers. If anyone has a question, feel free to ask me personally over a glass of wine.

Hakuna Matata!