Riebeek Kasteel

We arrived in Riebeek Kasteel at about 14:30 on a Sunday of a long weekend to find that it was a little problematic to find a place to enjoy a late and leisurely lunch!

We stayed at The Royal Hotel which is one of the oldest hotels in the Western Cape and has the longest stoep south of the Limpopo River. It is oh so very colonial! The hotel is said to be in the top 50 most fabulous places to stay in South Africa, but in my opinion it lacks that something wow - this is true for its rooms, which are comfortable, but not luxurious, its menu which sounds appealing but fails to deliver and its wine list which is limited. However, the staff are friendly and efficient and for whom nothing, even eradicating shongololo's from our room, is too much effort!

The town has a few nice shops to browse through and we particularly enjoyed Crisp, where unusual imported produce is stocked for the town's rather high foreign contingent. On this note - we visited a few estate agents out of pure curiosity and were shocked by the audacious property prices! When heading home on the Monday we stopped by the legendary Kloovenburg Wine and Olive estate, which was closed for lunch! By now such things should not have surprised us - but it did! Especially as the Kloovenburg website says that they are open on public holidays (and this was not a Christian holiday) and on Mondays from 9:00 to 16:30.