An interesting few days.

We are now in Montagu on the edge of the Little Karoo and the weather has changed, not quite long trousers but blissfully cool after the last few days.

I have enjoyed the last four days at Friedenhof the location is midway between the winelands of Stellenbosch and Cape Town itself, I did try to pay a visit to Cape Town but traffic has increased hugely since my last visit here two years ago so I gave up that thought and went to Groot Constantia for a few bottles of my favourite Cabernet Sauvignon and then went to have a look at Century City - bad mistake, it is retail hell with over four hundred retail outlets but I did find an excellent samosa shop and the tourist information office. It was very crowded so much so that I now do not believe that there is a recession here in South Africa.

Friedenhof was a quaint little place, there were chickens and LOUD roosters and six dogs who defended the boundaries vociferously, I also had a male secretary bird who practised his display routines whilst  was breakfasting on my patio.

My room is on the left

In limbo

I am having serious IT issues and I cannot access the internet on any of my digital devices using Microsoft or Apple, I managed to connect to this site via Google Chrome so I aim to make the most of it.

Marmalade and Harry decided to accompany me on this trip, I think they got bored and cold last November whilst I was laundering my passport and picking up parking tickets in Spain, they are enjoying the temperatures over here but 35C was a bit too much for me in Stellenbosch at lunchtime today.

Anyway to start at the beginning, my good friends Peter and Helen gave me a lift to Llandudno Junction to catch the train to Heathrow via Euston, my seat ticket put me opposite Mike and next to Leonard a father and son team from Wisconsin who are travelling around the world for a year or so, they were good company after I got over the embarrassment of Leonard's conversation which mostly consisted of the F word and not in the quietest American accent I have ever heard, but the journey down to Euston passed quickly with us all telling tall stories.

Security at Heathrow Terminal 3 was a dream compared to Manchester Airport, the staff are efficient but personable and the queue was less than 15 minutes. In my estimation British Airways are coming on by leaps and bounds, not only was my seat in the World Traveller section comfortable with extra legroom but the attendant on my aisle was not only professional but young and took the time to make you feel as though you mattered, well done BA it has taken a while but you seem to be getting there.

Yesterday was a bit of a write-off, we landed just before 12pm local time and after an hour's queue to get through immigration/passport control my trainee counter clerk at Avis took another hour to sort out my hire car which is a very basic Hyundai i10 but to be honest it is fine for what I will be using it for and at less than £13 per day I cannot complain. I had researched the journey to my first stop between Stellenbosch and Cape Town and it worked perfectly, who needs satnav?  We arrived at Friedenhof to be greeted by Kyle who showed us to our home for the next four nights so after dumping the cases we did the normal orientation and necessities shopping before having a shower and a South African mega burger - no bun required, before an early night. 

Nine hours sleep last night, wonderful, and a relaxed start to the day with breakfast on the terrace and then some wine tasting and wine buying followed by lunch at the Deli-CAT-essen in Tokara winery outside Stellenbosch, this was a fortuitous find because it is not advertised in the tourist brochures and I only stumbled on it because I had arrived too early for the restaurant so I went for a walk in the grounds. The clientele were all local and I would estimate at the middle to top of the social spectrum which is probably why I was relegated to a bench on the edge of the patio but great plate of charcutterie and cheese along with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon along with this view made it a lunch to remember.

The view from my bench at the deli-CAT-essen at Tokara Winery

The winery wine-tasting/restaurant area from the 'Selfie Platform' ??

Saga in Crete

This trip was planned to tick off two items on my bucket list, the Minoan complex at Knossos and the walk through the Samarian gorge, both have been successfully accomplished.

The tour of the archaeological site at Knossos was interesting but the history of the Minoan dynasty was more so, I had not realised how powerful they were nor how far back their civilisation went, this is a subject for further research. I visited the archaeological museum in Heraklion which displays finds found throughout the island but mostly at Knossos and I was impressed with the quantity and quality of the objects on display but the items that stood out for me were 1. The Bee Pendant, a piece of jewellery more than three thousand years old which I doubt could be bettered today. 2. The Bulls head which was so beautifully made that despite being made from stone seemed alive. 3. The Snake Goddess, this lady showed her power in so many different ways.

Yesterday I did the walk down the Samarian Gorge to the sea, a total of 10 miles mostly on quite rough ground. I was fortunate enough to do the walk with six members of the Llandudno Social Meetup group so my thanks to David, Val, Pam, Linda, Keith and Jane for your valued company and support. The walk wasn't easy but I felt that I had really accomplished something and then this morning I was hit with the price of tight, sore calves and aching knees, just one more benefit of getting old!

Today I did have plans to go up to the fertile high plateau but it has now turned into a rest day.

I booked the trip as a Solos holiday with Saga but on arrival I found that there is a standard Saga holiday running alongside the Solos event. The Imperial Belvedere and its sister hotel the Royal Belvedere are one large complex outside Hersonissos and on an all inclusive basis are an ideal resort for families but not Sagaites who do not want wall to wall activities and an awful Europop soundtrack  until 11:30pm each night and the noise in the restaurant (which is more like a school canteen)  means that conversation over dinner is out of the question the only saving grace is the dedicated Saga lounge which provides a relatively quite haven away from the mayhem.

Time to go home.

My spell of lazing in the sun is over, today I am staying the night in a hostel in Alhaurin de la Torre in the hills above Torremolinos before I catch a flight home tomorrow.
It has been a lovely break hiding from the sun and playing in the pool with Keira, Kay, Charlie and Zane and I did manage an excursion to Seville to see the sights, if ever you are looking for a residence in a hot country I can recommend the Alcazar in Seville, cool rooms and shaded gardens, the ceilings are beautiful especially the Ambassadors Room. Sunday is a good day to visit the city but go early to avoid the queues.

Idling in the sun.

We whities from Blighty hide from the sun for most of the day it peaks in the low 40s in the afternoon so we only come out to play after 6pm.  I am not sure if I could get used to this lifestyle of dining around 9 pm then staying up to the early hours and consequently not getting out of bed until mid-morning.
It has been fun to play out with Charlie and Zane, they are both waterbabies and wear all the adults out, good also to have time to talk to Keira and Kay about subjects many and various.
Back to reality next week but I will mis walking around in just a pair of shorts.

Oh no.

On my last trip down here I made a comment on my blog that Vejer de la Frontera was deserving of a visit for a day or even a weekend. Yesterday I took the scenic route through the mountains and on back roads to Vejer meeting hardly any traffic on the way, imagine my horror to find that thousands of people agreed with my thoughts of four years ago, the place was packed to the rafters so I beat a hasty retreat only to find long traffic queues on the coast road, fortunately not in my direction of travel. I gave up and went back to Jimena where I made the aquaintance of Gonçalo an itinerant artist who was recovering from a five day party at the local fiesta, he had an interesting view on his entitlement to an income from the government to pay for his drink, drug and smoking habits but he is a talented artist and sculptor.
I must make a mention of Melissa who owns and runs Casa Henrietta, the place is clean, very reasonably priced and a delightful place to stay.
This morning after a leisurely breakfast I took the mountain roads again and headed up to meet Keira and Kay who are renting through Airbandb for two weeks, their little cabin is on the outskirts of Seville but 400 metres from the nearest houses and part of a farm type complex with chickens, dogs, bats and lizards for company but most of all a little swimming pool, wonderful.

Spain again.

I am travelling super economy on Ryanair with just hand luggage so Harry and Marmalade have stayed at home to guard Llys Onnen. The journey went reasonably well subject to the usual delays, queues and other stress points, the car hire interlude was amusing - I had an elderly English guy who tried to jump the queue in front of me, I remonstrated with him, quite amusingly he got all huffy but in the end his British sense of fair play won out and he invited me to go first. The next fun was the charming man who was filling in all the car hire forms, when I refused the extra insurance at €120 for the week predictably the charm disappeared and he became Mr Surley.

I drove down the non-toll coast road from Malaga Airport through the resorts of Fuengirola, Marbella etc and it confirmed my opinion of such places - to be avoided at all costs, it was a pleasure to turn up into the hills to my destination for the next three days, Casa Henrietta in Jimena de la Frontera, a quirky, hippy establishment that I stayed in for one night on my first road trip in 2013.
I visited the castle here before I checked in, believe it or not I did not notice it on my last visit. The views from up there were incredible, I could see Gibraltar quite clearly but the countryside is very parched and brown after the heatwave they have had, I feel sorry for the cattle and sheep.

Well it is dinner time, I will check out the restaurant that I had pig cheek stew in last time but I have the option of dining in this hotel apparently they only provide evening meals in the season.