We started with a visit to the Afrikaans Language Monument, developed in 1975 to honor the 50th year of Afrikaans being adopted as the official South African Language. It is influenced by European languages, African languages, and Malay. The site is quite lovely and the architecture is dramatic. It sits on a hill top and the structure itself rises above the plain and is visible for miles. Each element is symbolic, down to the materials it was made of.
 |
| Above and below: Highveld Cabbage Tree |
 |
| When Mandela was here, it was called the Victor Verster Maximum Security Prison |
Our next stop was the village of Franschhoek a majority French settlement founded by Huguenots fleeing religious persecution for becoming Protestant in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were invited by the Dutch Protestants and contributed their knowledge of wine-making.
Then we visited the Huguenot Museum with a tour guide who was unfortunately way more into his topic than we were. I am surprised he didn't adjust his presentation as more of us kept drifting away. We finally got to wander the village, which was quite charming and had lots of lovely shops.
We got our wires crossed on where and what time we were supposed to reconnect and lunch ended up being quite late. The service plan was a bit odd too -- two big platters of roasted veggies and one of sausage were brought to the table, and given how long they were the only things to eat, we finished them off, feeling like it was an unusually light lunch. In reality, it was an unusually large appetizer and then the real food arrived, a South African barbeque. It was really good, but seriously too much to eat.
We got back to the hotel late, but I was finally able to connect with medical staff to help and prescribe meds for me, but one was not in stock, so I hoped to find it in Cape Town the next day.
We skipped dinner and packed for an early departure at 6:30am
No comments:
Post a Comment