Taylored Trips – Whistle-stop tourIt’s 2019 and Happy New Year to you and your family. For those of you who are still on holiday in the most beautiful Cape of them all, here are a few ideas on what to do and where to go in and around

the Cape Town area if you have two or three days spare. If you are back at work, sorry for you but keep these places in the back of your mind for when you get your next break.DAY 1Afrikaans Language Monument (Taal Monument as we know it) - Paarl

Taal Monument

On a hill forming part of the Paarlberg Mountain is a structure which you can see from far and wide. This

landmark has been brightening the skyline around Paarl since 1975 and it is still drawing local and foreign visitors daily. The shape is striking and unusual and it depicts all kinds of things that influenced the Afrikaans language. The full meaning of each of these pinnacles, spheres, tunnels and shapes

is explained by the architect along with many other interesting notice boards around the area.The complex also has a museum, a restaurant (with a to-die-for view from the terrace), lovely gardens with connecting pathways leading you around the hill, an adjacent amphitheatre and on

the last Sunday of every month a canon firing together with an informative talk is held from a deck overlooking Paarl valley.

Spheres and pinnacles Restaurant terrace

Canon firing Gardens and pathways

Paarl Rock - Paarl

Paarlberg Mountain

While you are up there on the hill, take a drive along Jan Phillips Drive, a gravel road which was built many years ago by Jan Phillips, a wagon builder in Paarl, to demo his wagons to prospective clients

where they could test out the robustness of his wagons before trekking north into unknown hostile territory. The road, all along the eastern side of Paarlberg Mountain, overlooks Paarl and the Paarl valley with the majestic Du Toit’s Kloof mountains and the distant Franschhoek mountains in the

background.This road also leads to a picnic/braai/day camp area and then it turns up higher to the restricted nature reserve area where there is a boom for access. Up on this higher area are more picnic/braai areas, some reservoir dams and the famous granite rock outcrops. This granite rock is the

biggest solid granite rock in the southern hemisphere and the second biggest in the world.Because us humans are what we are, they have given us access to the top of one of the outcrops, assisted by a chain for support, where you can gaze over the Cape flats, all the way to the most famous

landmark of all, Table Mountain.

Jan Phillips Drive Paarl Rock from Bretagne Rock

Two of the reservoirs Gordon’s Rock from Bretagne Rock. Paarl valley below

DAY 2The Farm Sanctuary – Franschhoek

The Farm Sanctuary was founded in America in 1986 to combat the abuse of factory farming and to encourage a new awareness and understanding about farm animals.

They are a non-profit organisation. Farm Sanctuary are very passionate about preventing cruelty to animals and promoting compassion towards animals. They have an amazing set-up in Franschhoek where you can sleep in a loft above the animals in the barn and for a fee they will get Pigcass

o the pig to paint an original masterpiece just for you.

Pigcasso Pigcasso masterpiece

This is a total menagerie and they have all the usual farm

animals there to make things very authentic and it is all to create awareness towards a very good cause.

Farm Sanctuary

There is a peacef

ul aura about the place and it is an in-your-face awakening of the plight that is being faced and what they are promoting here, irrespective of whether you are vegan or not.Much like our water shortage in the Western Cape – everyone is aware of it

but is everyone doing their bit to help the cause.Huguenot Monument and Memorial Museum - Franschhoek

Huguenot Monument

The Huguenot Monument is dedicat

ed to the cultural influences that the French Huguenots brought with them to the Cape Colony after their immigration during the 17th

and 18th

centuries.As in the Taal Monument, the symbolic meaning of the arches, the sun, the female figure, the globe etc is explained to give an understanding

to the monument. This monument has been here since 1945.Right next door to the monument is the Huguenot Memorial Museum which tells the story of the French Huguenots who settled in the Cape. If you are of French descent, you can actually trace your family here.

Huguenot Monument Memorial Museum

Of course Franschhoek, the town itself cannot be ignored. It actually needs a whole day of its own to enable one to relax and enjoy its many

exquisite jewels, whether it be fine art, fine cuisine, fine vinification, tram tours, spas and fine pub fare or maybe just a walk around town to admire some fine architecture, shops, churches and Teddy Bears, Franschhoek has it all.

La Grapperia - Spice Route Destination – Suid Agter Paarl

La Grapperia Restaurant and Wilderer Gin Distillery

A good place to

finish off a day’s strenuous exploring is at La Grapperia Pizza & Bistro right next to the Wilderer Gin Distillery, which all form part of the multi-faceted and very popular Spice Route Destination, right next door to the famous Fairview Estate. While your waiting for your Pizza, Flammkuchen or platter,

slide on over to the Wilderer for a bit of Gin tasting to get the heart racing.

Restaurant terrace Gin distillery and tasting

DAY 3Cape Town City

Cape Town - The Mother City

Every now and again we need to take ourselves into the heart of the Mother City. So many other options and destinations have popped up over the years that someti

mes we forget about the mother of all mothers and it is good to pay our respects to the old lady from time to time.St George’s Street is a good place to start. It’s no longer a street but now more of a mall filled with stalls so you’re fairly safe as far as being run over goes but watch your pockets and things.

The mall is bustling with vendors, buskers and opportunists but the architecture is amazing.

St George's Street Mall

When you get to the top of St George’s Mall, across Wale Street, you get

the St George’s Cathedral. A beautiful place of worship designed by the renowned architect Sir Herbert Baker. Known as the “People’s Cathedral” because of its role in the resistance against apartheid, it is the oldest cathedral in Southern Africa. The foundation stone was laid in 1901 by the Duke of

Cornwall and York, later to be King George V. This cathedral replaced the original cathedral built on 1834 on the same site. It is still incomplete they say.

St George's Cathedral

The Cathedral offers a natural progression to the Cape Town Gardens

where pigeons, squirrels, sight-seeing tourists and more buskers abound. The Parliament buildings, the Tuinhuis, the Planetarium, the statues, the lawns, the pathways, trees and gardens attract everyone like a magnet. It’s like stepping into another world and all the while, no matter where you go, Table Mountain

watches over you.

Cape Town Gardens

Stepping back into reality as you exit the gardens into Adderley Street, the architectural magic continues. The

allure of city life that hides deep within us all comes to the fore and you can’t contain yourself as you gawk at the old and the new, squashed up against each other, creating this modern metropolitan at the foot of Table Mountain, one of the most famous mountains that Mother Nature created for us.

Cape Town - old and new architecture

DAY 4Paternoster – West CoastYou’re on holiday, right? So get up lekker early and head out up the

West Coast. Check the weather reports for wind first though. You actually want to be up there on a nice summer’s day so that you can really enjoy the day. It is glorious.Paternoster is about 150kms from Cape Town. Brave the R27, travel safe and be aware of the other maniacs on the road but the trip is worth

it. It’s quaint, it’s quirky, it’s beautiful and it’s original west coast at its best.There are miles of pristine beaches to walk off the city blues. When you get peckish, there are numerous restaurants to choose from. Fish & chips take-aways at the Paternoster Fish Market, right on the beach (delicious),

something more spickerish at the red roofed 19th

century zinc building, Voorstrandt Restaurant, also right on the beach, maybe a bite of calamari at de See Kat, some Mediterranean fare at Benguela Blues (you can also meet the original At Botha, who turn the art of acting into the art of painting, at his Art

Gallery right next door), or just something tasty at The Paternoster Hotel on the stoep (don’t forget to pop in to see the Panty Bar).Just by the way, the Wolfgat Restaurant, in Sampson Street, Paternoster was recently voted 4th best restaurant in South Africa at the 2018 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaur

ant Awards with their chef die Weskusklong, Kobus van der Merwe, running away with the Chef of the Year Award.And while we’re on the subject, at the same awards held on the 18th

November 2018 at the Grand West Casino in the Western Cape, nine out of the top ten restaurants in South Africa are in the Western

Cape, predominantly in the Boland and the Peninsula areas!

Miles of beaches

Red roofed restaurant de See Kat

Benguela Blues and At Botha Art Gallery

Just a bit further down the road, on the way to Tieties Baai, is

something brand new in Paternoster, the Crayfish Wharf, featuring two very zooty restaurants, a very inviting bar and another art gallery along with some interesting history of Paternoster and its sea fisheries past and future sustainability. Definitely worth a pop-in.

Tapas Bar Chill deck

So, for an experience

second to none, the Western Cape cannot be equalled for a day, a week or a month’s getaway. If you don’t live here, get yourself down here for your next holiday destination, soon.May you have a super 2019.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”

BTW the Top 10 restaurants are

as follows: 1. The Restaurant at Waterkloof (Somerset West)2. The Test Kitchen (Woodstock)3. La Colombe (Constantia)4. Wolfgat (Paternoster) with best chef of the year5. La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)6. Greenhouse at Cellars-Hohenort (Constantia)

7. Restaurant Mosaic at the Orient (Elandsfontein, Pretoria)8. Camphor’s at Vergelegen (Somerset West)9. Jardine Restaurant (Stellenbosch)10. Chef’s Warehouse at Beau Constantia (Constantia)