http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26431 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26431 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26025 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/26025 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25994
We'd been warned that there were quite a few instances of roadworks to encounter and although we did see several excavations and bollards on our journeys, we were only held up once by traffic lights ('robots' in S Africa) and that was on the hill-top road between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek where there seems to be quite a bit of road-widening taking place (Dec 2009).

Overall, we were impressed by the quality of the roads we encountered (around Cape Town, and then on to Port Elizabeth via Franschhoek and Swellendam). Most take the form of 'two-lane black-tops', usually with wide hard shoulders. Initially we thought the latter a bit of a luxury, then we realised that it's polite to pull over onto the hard shoulder to let overtaking cars pass by.

Speed limits out of towns are generally 120 kph (75 mph) which means that you have to keep a careful eye not only on overtaking cars coming the other way, but also on your mirror for the 4x4s pounding up behind you. A disconcerting aspect of driving on these roads is that closing speeds can be upwards of 240 kph (150 mph) without any central divider. We didn't see any accidents on our holiday, but I imagine that if collisions occur, they could be horrendous.

Petrol is cheap (about 60p/litre), so driving is a relatively minor part of your holiday costs. Also, at petrol stations there are staff there to fill up your car, clean windscreens and check oil, which is something that you don't see in the UK too often. We weren't sure whether to tip or not initially, but we gathered later that it's usual to hand over R3-4 for the privilege.

Something we saw quite a lot of was people trying sell you items (shopping bags, flowers, you name it) whilst we were queueing at traffic lights. We didn't have any problems with this (we always kept our doors shut whilst driving), but it's an extra hazard to negotiate, especially if you're turning right at a junction.

Another issue is that in towns of any size, parking (either by the side of the road or in designated car parks) leads you to encounter characters who appear from nowhere to help you to negotiate your vehicle into a space and then offer 'to look after your car' whilst you're away. Some of these 'helpers' seem to be official (wearing high-visibility vests etc), whilst others seem to be punters trying to earn a daily wage. Anyway, it seems it's the done thing to give these guys R3-4 when you get back to your car (for obvious reasons). The only place where we could park without being hassled for money was in Franschhoek where there were notices street-side advising drivers not to hand over money "to prevent our citizens becoming beggars" (sic).

Regarding hire cars, make sure that you establish with your car rental company precisely what they mean by their 'Group A', 'Group B' categorisations etc before you leave the UK (or wherever). We thought that we'd rented a 'Ford Focus equivalent' for the 18 days we were away, only to be given a Toyota Yaris on arrival at Cape Town airport. Nothing wrong with a Yaris, of course, but it wasn't as big a car as we thought we'd rented. We ended up covering over 1200 miles, so you might want to make sure that you get a car that's going be comfortable enough for your needs.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25994 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25814 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25814 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25813 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25813 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25798 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25798 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25757 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25757 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25728
On Sundays there are evening concerts (5.30pm), so the queues to get in are actually busier late afternoon than earlier.

If you cant be bothered to organise a picnic, you can always have lunch at the Tea Room (near the Plant Centre and Gate 2). We sat outside beneath the parasols and feasted on the excellent Thai calamari salad with a couple of ice-cold Windhoek lagers.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25728 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25727
You don't even have to drive the 40 minutes or so to Stellenbosch to visit world-class wineries. Instead, take yourself down the M3, past Kirstenbosch, and head for the Constantia valley, the birthplace of South Africa's wine industry, where you'll find the Groot Constantia, Kleln Constantia, and Buitenverwachting ('beyond expectation') estates. We took the excellent winery tour at Groot Constantia, marvelled at the avenue of huge oak trees planted by Simon van der Stel in the late 17th century, and meandered around the manor house and former wine cellar. For lunch, we walked all of 20 metres from the winery to Simon's, a laid-back, modern barn of a place where you can sample some of Groot Constantia's wines (along with those from many other estates) with a sirloin steak, or kingklip served with pesto butter. We visited on a damp Monday, but tables were busy with local business people as well as tourists.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25727 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25692 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25692 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25691 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25691 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25634 It's run by a former Milanese optician and his ex-banker wife (he's front-of-house, she's the chef) who decided to down-size their lives and move to South Africa.
The peasant-style food is as good as you'll taste in SA or anywhere else. Try the tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, or the pork with apples and prunes.
We took our own wine along and they charged us a nominal sum for corkage.
They have rooms to stay, so you don't have to stagger too far to bed.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25634 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25633 We treated ourselves to dinner there on our last night in Cape Town and enjoyed it immensely.
We had a delicious rack of lamb, accompanied by a serious red blend from Springfield Winery ('The Work of Time'), recommended to us by the very friendly (and unintimidating) sommelier, Dom.
It's not cheap - we paid R900 for two courses (for two of us).
Well worth the visit though!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25633