Stellenbosch

We’re now in Stellenbosch, in the heart of the wine region just north of Cape Town.

Beautiful weather, a very nice place to stay, and no crowds.  That’s an understatement - there’s almost nobody here.  This is a popular vacation spot for Europeans, but they’re not going anywhere.  When we asked about extending our hotel stay, the clerk threw back her head and laughed before she regained her professional composure and said that it wouldn’t be a problem.

In the meantime, we’re enjoying our stay.  Today we arranged for an Uber driver to take us to Simon’s Town to go to Mineral World.

It’s an unassuming building that houses one of the world’s largest gemstone factories, where precious and semi-precious stones from all over the world are tumbled, faceted, and made into jewelry and other objects.  

There’s also a museum with amazing specimens, and, of course, a shop.  

I shopped.

The drive there was along the coast, and en route back we stopped to watch the surfers at Muizenberg, where there’s a famous surfing school.

It was a fun outing.

We’re getting emails from friends who are concerned about our getting home.  We have changed our itineraries (and flight reservations) - I’m not going to London, and John’s motorcycle tour had to be cancelled - so we’re coming home together.   So far, so good. 😎