Travel and Trade: A Blog for Design Lovers and Adventurers in South Africa and Beyond.
Explore the beauty and diversity of South Africa and its surroundings, and meet the local entrepreneurs and artisans who create amazing products and stories. Travel and trade is a concept that blends tourism and culture, giving you a rich and unforgettable experience in this stunning continent. From architecture to art, from vintage cars to African decor, our blog will inspire you with every post.
TRAVEL SOUTH AFRICA A LETTER FROM AFRICA Nr. 2 part 2
We arrived in the charming town of Prince Albert founded in 1762; the village has many preserved Cape Dutch, Karoo and Victorian buildings, 13 of which are National Monuments. Kyleen and I headed strait for Mai's Guest House owned by a charismatic - yes, you guessed it, lady called Mai.
I was told that three of my former colleague’s, all flight crew members from South African Airways, happens to run the most popular restaurant in town called the “Karoo Kombuis” (kitchen). I asked Mai to make us a dinner reservation under an assumed name, for I wanted to surprise them.
This is how the Karoo Kombuis operates; the three of them share a home and everyday at 5pm (except Sundays,) their “stoop” (porch), dining room and kitchen become the Karoo Kombuis Restaurant. Kyleen and I sat outside on the “stoop” and on the opposite side of the narrow street were the house/restaurant is situated, you have a full-on-view of this.... "select read more"
Must say a little unusual for me to have a full-on-view of the dish I'm about to order, while its family members are crazing right in front of my eyes.
The stars were so bright and plentiful it appeared as if it was painted on a silk screen. Denise, Theunis and Michael were all presently surprised to see me, luckily we were all somewhat recognizable. Mike dashed to his room (conveniently located) to retrieve his photo album and showed Kyleen a few picture of me, in my day, on a flight with him. We brought our own wine because the restaurant does not have its own liquor license and happily shared it with our hosts and chatted late into the night.
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At 5 am the next morning my Canon 40 D and I hit the streets of Prince Albert. They still have water ducts in front of their homes and there where plenty of windmills everywhere.
It was time to take on the “Swartberg Pass”. Several people especially my family tried to talk me out of crossing the Swartberg. One of my cousins burnt out his clutch, told me, he crossed it twice and thought I should not do it with a car maybe if I had a 4x4. It’s all gravel, steep climb, with sharp S bends and extremely narrow pass with no safety railings and a sheer drop into the abyss if you make any mistakes. Oh… it’s wide enough for one car only, however just like the Amalfi Coast there always seems to be two cars trying to pass each other on these passes. Nevertheless, Kyleen and I decided we’re going to cross it and so, we did, unscathed and found the whole experience exhilarating
There were 2 choices the adventure tour and the standard tour. The adventure tour took longer and many people get stuck in the narrow caves and by now we were way to hot and bothered and wanted to get back to a cooler setting like Somerset West. We still wanted to spend a day in Cape Town before Kyleen headed back to the USA. So the Cango Caves were our last adventure after that we spend the rest of the day driving home. We had lunch at “Clarks Karoo” in a little town called Barrydale where they served outstanding food. We also popped in and visited the “very hip” Barrydale Karoo Hotel belonging to another ex flight attendant colleague of mine.
Letter 3 From Africa; will tell the tale of my journey, by car, driving more than 6,000 km, across South Africa to the border of Swaziland, and back to Cape Town via KwaZulu-Natal. Stay tuned.....
