AUTHOR: Nancy TITLE: Cape Town and Somerset West DATE: 2/26/2009 10:19:00 PM ----- BODY:
Whew! It's been a long time since I've written, but I've been taking a break while Leslie visits friends, and I have been staying in a lovely home watching the guinea fowl search for bugs in the garden. My host has taken me walking on the beach at the Strand and to Betty's Bay where the excitement was watching a very long, skinny black snake rush across the pathway with his head held high. From looking at the book in the garden shop I believe it was an asp.

We were there to hike to Leopard's Klopf and look out over the sea. It was beautiful but HOT, but what was most interesting was discovering that the water coming directly out of the ground from springs was brown. It was pure and cold, but colored by the protea and other native plants.

The following day we went over the mountain pass through dramatic rock cliffs to Franschoek to a beautiful wine-growing area where we ate lunch in a restaurant made from a cave. The food was delicious and it was only later that I learned that it was rated as the top winery dining spot of 2007. Unfortunately, my host does not drink wine, so we didn't do the tasting tour, but then I did plenty of that two years ago.

There is a huge fire raging behind one of the most famous wineries here so we didn't have a chance to visit but instead walked on the beach and then followed that with a visit to Kirstenbosch, the most famous botanical garden on the Cape. The protea were not in bloom, but there were fascinating medicinal and aromatic plants and then a lovely spot for lunch. I tried Boo Botje, a Cape Malay dish that was divine. This traveling takes a toll on one's waistline!

In the afternoon I checked in to the City Lodge near the Victoria and Albert Waterfront and met Leslie and her friends for a sushi supper. Her hostess has a huge craft factory but also expressed an interest in the production of fuel-efficient stoves.

We're off to the big craft expo today and tomorrow I'm hoping to take a tour of the townships. It's not something one can do alone, so I'm having to pay for looking at people's traditional cooking. All in the name of safety!

Nancy

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