30 Hours Later
We arrived in Cape Town after our flight via Amsterdam from Atlanta. It was a total of 30 hours of travel from our house in Atlanta (11 AM Wednesday) to our accommodations in Paarl (11 PM Thursday). When you finally stop traveling, you are at a point between tired and high-strung. You have been sitting for so long that you don’t want to go to bed, but you have not slept enough and you need the rest. You need to unwind and take a deep breath.
I used to do this trip every 3 months (1 eastbound and 1 westbound) when I lived in South Africa for 3+ years. I found the best way to beat jet lag: you have to force yourself into the new time zone as soon as possible. If you don’t, you will sleep until 2 or 3 PM and it will take several days to sort out. If you normally go to bed at 11 PM, you do the same in the new time zone. The same with waking up: if you get up at 7 AM normally, then you get up at that time in the new time zone.
The first day is usually a little rough; you just need to ignore the urge for a midday nap. If you need to go to bed at 10 that night to get caught up, that will help more than a power nap in the afternoon. By the end of your second day, you will forget that you are 6 hours or more off from your normal. Of course, if you arrive at your destination at 11 PM as we did, you will need to make some adjustments. For instance, I went to bed around 1 AM and woke up at about 8 or 9 AM. This is a little off from my norm but within reason. I was able to beat jet lag within the first day.
About Paarl, South Africa
Paarl is a town of approximately 190k people situated just 35 miles from Cape Town in the middle of the wine region and is the third oldest European settlement in South Africa. Most of the people live in the areas around the town and not within the city limits. Therefore, it feels like a town of 20-30k and not 190k. It is a cozy town with vineyards and Cape Dutch houses with thatched roofs. We stayed in Southern Paarl in the same area my wife lived in growing up. The main street is lined with beautiful oak trees that create a canopy over the road. The Main Road in Paarl is the longest in South Africa at 12km. Paarl Mountain is the second-largest granite outcrop in the world behind Yosemite.
Paarl In the News
On February 11, 1990, Paarl was in the news around the world when Nelson Mandela walked out of prison there after 27 years of imprisonment. Also, the former President of South Africa F. W. de Klerk (President before the 1994 elections and shared the role with Nelson Mandela after the election) still lived in Paarl when I was there in 2002-2005. F.W. de Klerk is often credited for setting Mandela free. Both De Klerk and Mandela received Nobel Peace Prizes for their part in ending Apartheid. So this area is rich in history.
I spoke with De Klerk’s son on a regular basis when I lived there and always wanted to ask him if he could arrange a time for me to meet his father. Since I didn’t want to seem creepy, I never asked if it was possible. Looking back on this, I regret not asking; he would have been an amazing person to meet.
I hope this helps you understand how historically significant this area is. With all that historical babble behind us, let’s move on to more about the trip.
Time to Relax and Enjoy South Africa
We arrived at our accommodation for this part of the trip at about 11 PM. We met my wife just outside the guest farm as it had a security gate that required a remote to open. She had been in South Africa for 3 weeks helping out with a family matter, so she checked in earlier in the day. The car was unloaded and we put our backpacks away; our vacation had started, time for a deep breath. We stayed up for a little while to unwind before going to bed at about 1 AM.
Sorry about the video below being a little shaky. This was the first video with my new camera and I forgot to turn on stabilization. I only realized a few days later and fixed the issue then.
Our cottage was situated on the side of Paarl Mountain with a great view of the exposed granite, vineyards, valley, mountains, and surprising great sunsets. This was a guest farm with several donkeys, horses, chickens, pigs, etc. The roads are not fully paved on the farm and Cape winters are wet, it was quite muddy around the cottage.
Paarl Mountain
The weather forecast for Friday was for more rain in the afternoon. If we were going to be outside, it had to be close to the cottage and in the morning. A drive up Paarl Mountain was the best option. It was close and if the rain came in early we could easily return to the cottage. The dirt road up the mountain was repaired in the past few years; the potholes would only swallow a compact car now! However, on our previous trip to Paarl, the main access to the mountain was closed due to erosion and was impassable. It is a beautiful (and still bumpy) drive with great views of the valley and mountains.
Dining Out In Paarl
We had not planned to eat much at the cottage due to dining out being inexpensive in South Africa (in US Dollars at least). The first thing we had on our schedule was on Saturday afternoon with some friends and family at a local restaurant/pub (Bossa) that I frequented during my time there.
We met at the restaurant around 4 PM on Saturday; there were 8 people originally in our group. After an hour another 2 more people joined us and we all ate, drank wine, Brandy and Coke specials (a local favorite), and other beverages. Our group ordered steaks, burgers, nachos, appetizers, and pretty much anything you can think of on the menu. We stayed until they closed the bar at about 2 AM.
This is a quality restaurant, not a pub with leathery thin steaks or only pub food; it is a proper restaurant that happens to have a bar. The steaks are some of the best I have ever had; all of the food is excellent. My steak was a 350g rump; it would have been a $40-50 meal in the US, it was about $10 in SA. At the end of the night, our bill was only $240 for 10 people including all food and drinks. As I mentioned above, dining out is quite a bargain with USD (exchange rate was about 14.5 ZAR to 1 USD during our trip).
The food is great in South Africa as it is not mass-produced like the US and tastes very fresh. Typically, dining out is a once in a while thing for most people in South Africa (the same as in the US). We ate at the restaurant above 4 times while we were there, plus several other restaurants in town. The steak restaurant downstairs from Bossa was excellent and a step up in atmosphere and food. My son and I shared a 1.2kg (2.65lb) T-bone steak. This thing was massive and the most expensive meal I had while in South Africa at about $35 including sides for both of us.
Why Visit in the Winter?
This trip was planned so we could attend my niece’s wedding the following Saturday. Therefore, the first weekend was wide open for the most part as we were the only guests who had arrived from out of town/country. My brother-in-law and his family were arriving from Atlanta on the Monday after us. Also, my sister-in-law and her family were coming from Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth (South Africa) on the Thursday and Friday before the wedding.
The wedding was held at a farm in Northern Paarl. The views of the valley were amazing from this location. Unfortunately, it was raining on the day of the wedding and I was not able to get any great pictures from the venue then. Luckily, there was a rehearsal on the day before and I was able to get some pictures.
Winter in this region of South Africa is quite mild. We enjoyed highs around 60-75F and lows in the 48-55F range. It is a damp cold and most homes do not have heat; we had to rely on a fireplace for warmth.
Day Trips from Paarl
We took a few day trips from Paarl that I will cover in another post.
It has been hard to write about this part of the trip as I used to live there. Things that I take for granted, might be of interest to my readers. Paarl is basically an eat, drink and be happy place, and worth a visit to see it and the surrounding areas. If you have any questions or want to know more about the town or region, please leave a comment below.
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