Sunday, February 12, 2006

Wine, olives and arty stuff

South Africa is famous for wine and olives. You may well agree with the wine part based on your supermarket knowledge back home, but olives?

From the Mediterranean climate of the Western Cape to the semi-desert Northern Cape, olive and grapes are immensely important to the region, providing employment, economic stability and tourism opportunities.

The various Wine Routes (Stellenbosch, Durbanville, Constantia and Route 62 (the longest wine route in the world), Paarl, Wellington, Franschhoek and Worcester are extremely popular and boast wine tasting, exquisite meals, concerts, sightseeing and wine related shopping galore.

In addition to the wine stuff, Spier Estate (Stellenbosch wine route) has an arts season that is very popular. Check online for details.

South Africa has wild olive trees that are related to the more commonly known European table kind. This was noticed way back when and some enterprising person decided to cultivate the edible table variety. The result: world class olive groves and award winning olive oils and products.

Whilst 'olive routes' don't exist as such, Morgenster Estate in Somerset West, Kloovenburg and Hillcrest are places to consider visiting.

Not all estates are open to the general public and bookings may need to be done in advance, so check beforehand.

No comments: