The Weekender: Cape Town

Wine, glorious wine! On rails glorious rails!
I’m not actually going to be in Cape Town or Franschhoek this weekend because I’ll be visiting my old home up north – Jozi – to witness some very dear friends of mine becoming grownups. Tying the knot, getting hitched and all that. I love a good wedding. I’ve been known to get a bit teary-eyed and subsequently (or maybe it’s the other way around?) stuck into the bubbly.
So although I’m missing the festival this weekend, it’s for a good reason.
You may not have an excuse like mine and therefore you MUST go to Franschhoek this weekend to get uncorking with the rest of them.
It’s really one of the better wine festivals on the calendar – it’s not smack in the middle of winter as many of them are – meaning you get to enjoy the natural outdoor beauty of the Franschhoek valley. Also – and I don’t think I need to tell you – some of the best restaurants in the country are in the area and that’s reason enough to get out there.

The list of participating farms would read like something out of my book of “Yes Please” if I had one.
To name a few: Allèe Bleue, Anthonij Rupert Wines, Haute Cabriere, Noble Hill, Vrede & Lust, Boekenhoutskloof, Dieue Donne – and my favourite – Babelonstoren. It’s the end of clivia month at Babelonstoren and if you haven’t been, do it. They’re serving dinner in their bakery on Saturday night too.
 
The farms are all running a wine special – valid for the weekend only – of ‘buy 5 bottles get the 6th free’.
The Franschhoek Wine Tram is a great way to start off the weekend – I flipping love things on rails.

Get your Uncorked Weekend Pass, at a cost of R120 per person. Bookings through Webtickets, or participating wine farms on the day.

From today, the 25th, until the 5th of October, Cape Town Fringe has it’s hub at City Hall.

It’s somewhat like the Grahamstown Festival and has the same presenting sponsors but is modeled on Fringe Festivals held in New York, Prague and Amsterdam. I don’t know what this means. I do know that there are artists from all over that’ll be performing everything from music, comedy and dance, to theatre and illusion.
Tickets and everything you need to know are on the link above – it’s a really useful website so have yourself a look.
Along the lines of the slightly weird thing I said earlier about loving things on rails…If you’re not going to make it to the winelands this weekend then why not get on the train from town – or from any of the suburban stops on the line – and head out to the Dirty South?

Grab a beer, some fish and have a stroll down Kalk Bay’s breakwater or into the little hipster coffee shops and antique stores.
 
There’s another really special train you can take to Simonstown. But as of this posting it’s fully booked until the 23rd of November. Just put that in the back of your brain somewhere as another MUST DO. It’s called the Atlantic Rail.

That’s a whole other blog post for another day though – as is the train to Matjiesfontein. Which is just too epic to talk about in a few sentences.
I’m getting carried away with trains – so lets leave that subject for now and just say that basically, this weekend, in the Western Cape, there is a lot to do. Wine festivals, train trips, walks, gardens, food, art. It’s all happening.
Happy weekend everyone!
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