riebeek west

We spent the weekend in Riebeek West at Sophea Cottage, a lovely little place, very relaxing and comfortable.

Lots of rain, wine and olives... It was nice to drive around this area again.

draaihoek

We spent the weekend at Draaihoek on the west coast, near Elandsbaai. It was nice being in this area again, we drove through to Aurora, Elandsbaai and Redelinghuys on saturday.

The food at Draaihoek is really very good. I spent some time talking to Michael, the chef there, and he is a very nice guy who really cares about his food. Pork terrine, stuffed chicken breasts, slow roasted smoked eisbein and oxtail stew are just a few of the things we had there.

paternoster and yzerfontein

We spent a few days in Paternoster and Yzerfontein, driving around in the area and exploring all the small towns and parks.

riebeeks kasteel

We took a short weekend break, first night was in Riebeeks Kasteel, which means we've bought lots of olives (again). We slept at De Langenhof, awesome garden and swimming pool.

kapteinskloof

We spent last weekend at Kapteinskloof near Piketberg. It's a lovely farm in the middle of nowhere. The perfect place to do nothing.

On the way there we stopped at Het Vlock Casteel in Riebeek Kasteel to buy their delicious smoked olives.

On saturday we drove some scenic dirt roads and mountain passes in the area, and had a fantastic lunch at a cozy little restaurant in Aurora called L'Aurore. I had the swiss sauteed pork fillet and mushrooms with roesti, really very good.

On sunday we drove the coastal road, stopping at all the small towns along the way back home, Velddrif, St Helena Bay, Saldanha, Paternoster, Langebaan and Yzerfontein.

weekend in yzerfontein

We decided to go to Yzerfontein for the weekend, because the weather bureau predicted the first serious winter rain for the year, which meant we couldn't continue our painting at home. We found a nice little place called Surfsong, which has a lovely view of the sea.

On Saturday we drove out to Darling and had lunch at Evita se Perron, and browsed around the little town. But the rest of the weekend was spent doing nothing but relaxing...









The rain also brought some fairly big waves. Here's a video clip I took from the rocks, perhaps a little too close to the waves :-)

riebeek kasteel and yzerfontein

We drove out to Riebeek Kasteel for the day. Stopped at Het Vlock Casteel for some olives, wine and sauces, and then wondered around town browsing the little shops.







On the way home we decided to do a big detour through Darling, to have a look at Yzerfontein, a very nice little coastal village. I think we need to go there for a weekend break soon.

riebeek kasteel

We decided to explore a bit of the countryside today, and drove out to Riebeek Kasteel. It's a lovely small country village, with beautiful views, and small shops and restaurants all over the place.

Unfortunately we followed a recommendation in the TimeOut magazine, and had lunch at The Cook & The Gardener. What a disaster. The restaurant looks nice enough, and the menu does look good, but the food took almost an hour to arrive, and there was nothing to nibble on while we waited. And when the food arrived, the pork I ordered was very undercooked (still quite bloody really) and Ansie's fish was just about raw. We sent the food back, and when it re-appeared 10 minutes later, it looked like it had been microwaved.

Eventually we managed to eat most of the tasteless crap, mainly because we were dying of hunger by this time. We won't be going back there ever again.

Other than the unpleasant (long) lunch, we ended up having a wonderful day.