Road Trip!: Wining and Dining

After Knysna, we were off to enjoy 3 days in the heart of South Africa's wine country.  We went all in and around the gorgeous towns of Montagu and Robertson and stayed in the Koo Valley.  We ate, we shopped.  We went on a tour of the famous Montagu farms where they produce the most gorgeous dried fruit in the country.  And of course we did wine tastings at numerous wine estates.  Our absolute favorite was Kranskop, a small winery whose vintner took the time to talk to us (and give my father-in-law advice on growing grapes in cold weather!) and give us a tour. 

It was a stunning, amazing and delicious 3 days.  Absolutely delicious.  In fact, we topped it all off with a gourmet dinner at the award-winning restaurant at Fraai Uitzicht, which we had scoped out during our first trip to the area.  (By the way, we finally figured out how to pronounce it, FRY EYE-TSIK.)  You know, I'm not normally all about tall food, but this was absolutely divine.  It was relatively casual, which is what I usually hate about chi-chi restaurants: the outfits, the attitude -- but none of that here.  And oh, just oh ... Beetroot ravioli, traditional ravioli, springbok carpacio, springbok en croute, a fresh fruit panna cotta ... FLIPPING EH.  Not to mention their wine!  A crisp rose made with a blend of their merlot, and then a bottle of their out-of-this-world merlot.  And lemme tell you, I usually don't like merlots.  But instead of overwhelming heaviness, this thing was alive, fruity yet still deep ... and kinda ... punchy.  I don't know what kind of voodoo they do do, but they do it well.

Overall, a fantastic way to end 2 weeks on the road.  Oh, and to top it all off, the last night, who should come by to visit our cabin but 2 kitties that were almost identical clones to our 2 cats back home, Bela and Miles.  (See their pictures here.) The little tabby was a bit darker, and the big black one had the tip of its tail lopped off (!) but other than that, they were identical!  Down to the attitude:  the tabby was all like, leave me alone (but love me), and the poofy black one just wanted to be loved and be around us and made little cooing noises just like my baby back home ... It was perfect.