maandag 31 oktober 2011

30th October

Today, Sunday, we visited Robbeneiland, the prison where Nelson Mandela was captured for 18 years. In total he was in prison 27 years though.  Fortunately I bought the tickets 3 weeks ago online  as it  was sold out until 7th November
We did a tour of the island with a bus. It is very deserted. There still live 318 people on the island. Mostly ex-prisoners who choose to live there. I cannot imagine it as there is really nothing; no shops, no restaurants, nothing that can be positively perceived. There is also a school but there are only a few students.

This is the quarry where prisoners had to work





This is the school building


The guides in the prison are ex-prisoners...It's amazing how these people can do this after what they have been through. They have an amazing power to forgive those who tortured them.
Our guide explained he was captured 10 years on the island. The most horrible thing was the mental torture.
The mail they received was forged and so they received letters where their wife called for divorce  while that was totally  not true.  If they were ill they got one pill that made them on purpose even more ill. So as a consequence they did not go to the doctor anymore and many of them died in their cell.
Only a few succeeded to escape from the island.






The black people (bantus) got less food than the coloureds







 Mandela's number in prison 466 in the year 1964:   46664 is a number you see everywhere.
 It was an impressive visit. The feels is very creepy to me. I was happy we were back o the boat.

It was good we did Table Mountain the day before as it was closed due to the weather on Saturday

#ibmcsc south africa

29th October

We arrived in Capetown at 10:15 on Saturday.
It was 16 degrees so around 10 less that Joburg. Time to use the other part of the clothes in my suitcase!
I had a contact of a driver  from a friend and made arrangements to pick us up. So Mt Fish was well in time and we were all set to go. Until we approached his car and saw our luggage.. It was quite a challenge to get all luggage in the car but he made it although we were squeezed like sardines


We passed by the hotel, checked in and left immediately for a wine tour with Mr Fish.

The drive there was fabulous... beautiful nature surrounded by mountains.

First we went to Franschhoek and visited Graham Beck winery  first.



This was definitely a '3' in our rating system.




The Hugenote Monument:









Another '3': Pierre Courdan Brut ( a Cap Classique as they call their 'champagne'): 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir.


Haute Cabriere; Chardonnay Pinot Noir : excellent one!

After that visit we went to Stellenbosch and visited  'Spier'.

From the ones I tasted I liked most an organic Sauvignon Blanc, a Signature Chardonnay unwooded   and 21 Gable Chenin Blanc and a 'Creative Block 5' which is a blend of 5 bordeauxs.

Personally I liked Franschhoek most compared to Stellenbosch

Then we drove out of the wineries and unfortunately you see here also the informal settlements with hundreds of shacks:


As the weather improved we decided to drive to Table Mountain immediately as the prognosis for tomorrow is rain....
We were lucky because  it was open and we could go to the top.
The view is breathtaking.  You cannot easily capture this on pictures but it was amazing.
We waited for the sunset on top of the mountain and came down when it was dark.











 the mountain above is called  'the Lionhead'



What a very long, busy day but so rich!
We are lucky to have Mr Fish as he knows the area and helped us to make maximum  use of our time.

 #ibmcsc south africa