Take Me Back To Franschhoek!

A couple of weeks ago this guy and I celebrated 11 whole years of marriage.  And every single one of them was to each other.  Woo-hoo.  Usually I write a little something something to commemorate the occasion but this year I just told him in his face how much he means to me.  It wasn’t nearly as long winded as a post but I think he got the message.

Every year we manage to bribe the grandparents to look after the kids so that we can get a couple nights away together.  Last year we did Italy, we’ve also done Paternoster, Stellenbosch, Old Mac Daddy in Grabouw and one year we just stayed in Cape Town and acted like tourists.   I don’t think it matters what you do exactly, but I really do think it’s so important to have that time to focus on each other again without the distraction of the kids.  In fact, I think it’s even more important than many other things.  Like say, our kids.  Ooooh, did she just go there?  Yes, she did.  Our marriages should be a priority.  I’d honestly hate to look at Seth one day and wonder who he is because we’ve lost each other along the way.

Anyway, the one place that has been on my list since FOREVER is Franschhoek.  Look, having never actually stayed there since I was a tween, I’m not entirely sure what the draw was to go there, but a draw there was.  Every year we’d pick a new place to stay and every single year I’d beg to go to Franschhoek.  But for some or other reason, it never happened.

This year the stars aligned and Seth finally gave in.  So off to Franschhoek we went.

Around 2pm we arrived and checked into our beautiful room at Franschhoek Boutique Hotel.  The room is kitted out for every comfort, with a wonderful contemporary feel which I didn’t get from a lot of the other places that we looked at.  There is a fully stocked bar fridge, complimentary wine and water, views for days and a bath that looked so inviting that I cursed the drought for an hour.  The only thing I was sad about is that the weather was too warm to use the wood burner nestled into the corner of the room.  (I think we’re going to have to go back in Winter).

Another thing that I love about the Franschhoek Boutique Hotel is its location.  It’s right in the middle of town, on the main street, but nestled back through a courtyard so you still get the peace and quiet.  Being in the centre of the town means that you literally have some fantastic restaurants right on your doorstep!  Score.

When we go away we love to leave everything in our room and then hit the town on our feet.  You see so much more by walking than you would in a car.  And Franschhoek is perfect for walking around.  But by the time we got there, had checked in and all the rest of it, we realised that we hadn’t eaten all day!

So even though there were so many art galleries and boutique stores to look through, we headed straight for a restaurant.  We looked at a few options but Bovine was the one that caught our fancy.  It looked casual enough that we would feel comfy in our ripped jeans and converse (just me) but still offer great food.  And we were not disappointed.

We tried out the wine tasting menu which was kind of the theme of our little getaway.  Wine tasting.  But more on that later.  Because it was an awkward time and we were starving we didn’t order mains, instead we went for the tapas so that we’d feel fuller but still get to try and few of the options.  Man those brisket spring rolls were IT for me.  SO good.

Once our bellies were full we took a walk down the main road, popping into all the different stores.  We found a really amazing carpet in the perfect size for the camper (so it’s basically a mat because the camper is so small haha).

We walked past the Station Pub which advertised live music for later that evening so we planned to go back there for supper.  Which we did.  It was cool, definitely a different vibe to the rest of Franschhoek but it hit the spot.

We slept like babies that night in our bed.  No disruptions or worrying about waking little people.

The next morning we filled up on a hearty breakfast at the Franschhoek Boutique Hotel and then we headed out to the Wine Tram.  I umm’ed and ahh’ed about adding that experience into this post but guys, it was so full and funny that I think it deserves a post all on its own.  Suffice to say that you will see that here tomorrow and if you are ever in Franschhoek, you should totally do it.  In fact even if you come to Cape Town you should take a day to explore Franschhoek with the tram.  Such a fun day out!

After all the wining that day, I quite literally just fell asleep for the rest of the evening.  Seth went for supper all on his own.  Shame.

Having skipped supper, I was starving when I woke up!  And after knowing how delicious the breakfast was from the previous morning I was literally drooling on my way down to the breakfast area of the Franschhoek Boutique Hotel.  It’s funny, Seth always orders the health breakfast and I order a heart attack on a plate.  It’s my absolute favourite!!

Although we saw all the wine farms the previous day, it was time to discover what the other side of the town had to offer.  Namely the monument and the museum.  Even though we could see it clearly enough from the road, we paid the R20pp entry fee to walk through the gardens to see the monument.  It felt very much like how we took selfies with every statue we saw in Italy haha.

We skipped the museum and instead opted to go up to one of the wine farms that wasn’t on our wine tram list – Haute Cabriere.  Which I still can’t actually pronounce no matter how hard I try.

The views there are spectacular but considering that I couldn’t even look at wine we decided to just stop for a quick picture and then head out to the motor museum on our way home.

The motor museum was really interesting.  Or the first of the warehouses was.  Those old cars really are something.  We have come a long way in the motoring field although some of those old cars are better looking than a lot of the new ones!

I was really hoping to see some old campervans or something VW, but there wasn’t any of that.  There are a lot of the very old Ford type vehicles and race cars.  And some blue ones and red one and black ones.  Some even had cool other colours.  Can you tell how much I know about cars?

There was the car from Back To The Future though which means something to the people who have watched Back To The Future, which is not me.

All in all we had the absolute best time out in Franschhoek and I’m so looking forward to one day making our way back there to try out that fire place in the Winter time!