After an extremely maddening travel experience to get to Africa (just typing that made my BP spike!), we finally made it to Cape Town and proceeded to truly enjoy our trip. Our first stop was Franschhoek, a small winery town that reminded us A LOT of Napa. Cute little town that we really didn’t get to enjoy cause it was 11:30 p.m when we arrived. We checked into the stunning Leeu House Estates (garden pic below) and went straight to bed.

Day 2 dawned with a pickup from a lovely man named Ian, who was to be our guide for the next two days. Just a word here about Ian – he turned around the bad experience we’d had getting to the country and made our first two days a fantastic experience. He was knowledgeable, funny, patient, kind, and proud of his country – a winning combination. Our first day was a wine tour, and we enjoyed the wines, food, and views at two wineries in the Stellenbosch area. It was a beautiful day, and we loved every minute of it. Ian dropped us at our Cape Town hotel and we wandered to a local restaurant he recommended for game meat – and then didn’t eat any!

Day 3 was all about Cape Town – Table Mountain, Signal Hill, a beautiful row of really old houses that signify the tribal culture that is still a part of Cape Town, down to the Cape of Good Hope, and then to Boulders Beach to see the penguins. After a late lunch, Ian dropped us back at the hotel, and we once again wandered around for dinner.

Cape Town is a beautiful city and not what you expect when you think of Africa. It’s lush and green, with manicured common areas and an abundance of trees. And it’s surrounded by mountains, which we did not expect (our assumption being that Africa is flat.

Now on to our first safari!!