It is a very slow morning as we have our coffee, get showered, dressed and all packed up.  We aren’t planning to leave until 8am, as our driver is set to pick us up at 9 and we figure that gives us plenty of time if there is the chaos we think there will be on the pier. 

We tell Tess, our amazing cabin steward, she can have the room, we’re just leaving our backpacks there until we go, then head downstairs to Mosaic for our last coffees.  When we return to our room, there are 2 little bottles of Amarula and the sweetest note from Monique and Rafa.  Ok.  Officially totally sad to be leaving now.  We will miss them so much.

We grab our gear, say goodbye to Tess, then head to Deck 4 to wait for Monique and Rafa to say goodbye.  Unfortunately, we miss saying goodbye to Jose, who was there, but ran off shortly after we arrived to make announcements.  Pooh, that makes us sad.  Nothing to do now.

And as it turns out, we miss Monique too, as she is crazy busy at that point in time and we have to go, meeting Rafa out on the pier and saying farewell, promising we will see each other again soon somewhere in the world.  Also, as it turns out, there is no chaos on the pier at that time in the morning.  We have our luggage, are on the shuttle and out of the pier in no time.  So much so, we actually arrive at the cruise terminal at quarter past 8.  Oh, we have a long wait!  And wait. And wait.  We tried to contact our driver, but he didn’t respond.  We know we can’t check into the hotel, but we do want get over there as soon as we can and the go grab a coffee or something before taking the 10am HoHo to Constantia.  As the wait grows longer, we end up canceling the pre-paid driver in lieu of an Uber, which comes right away and whisks us over to the hotel for a grand total of $4.45 USD.  I mean, you can’t beat that.  At some point the other driver called and asked what our flight details were because he didn’t have them and he needed them to pick us up at the airport.  What? No!  We aren’t there – we just told him we had canceled and moved on. At least we got some amazing photos of the clouds blanketing Table Mountain and Lions Head while we waited and stewed!

At the hotel – which is totally cool, btw – we leave our bags and the sweet receptionist says we can make use of the restaurant this morning.  Really?  Nice!  Coz we didn’t pay for it tomorrow, so….we hang out there with some great freshly made coffee (for me, Ed had machine coffee – long story, I’m not even going into).  After a lovely, relaxing hour, we head off to the bus stop to begin our wine tasting and lunch day.  Figuring we might as well just stay downstairs in the cool a/c – coz it is now sunny and hot outside – we make ourselves comfy (we are the only people down there) and have more great views of Table Mountain and the creeping clouds along with other scenic views around the city. 

We arrive in Constantia right before 11am.  Beau Constantia opens at 11, but our reservations are for 11:30, so we are hoping they will accommodate us.  The vineyard is as pretty as it was 2 years ago, we are surrounding with vibrant green vines and beautiful long views on our walk up to the tasting room.

There, they nicely move our reservation from 11:30 to 11 and seat us in the primo corner window table for our tasting.  The absolute best table in the whole place.  Josie, our lovely waitress, explains the tastings, accommodating me with my no red wine request and we sit back, enjoy the stunning view and the fantastic food and wine. 

We ordered the meat and cheese platter – massive as it was before – and contentedly snack on that while we are tasting our great wines. Josie give us the story of the Goat farm, the fire that burnt the farm down, the goats escaping to the mountains and the current owners buying the burnt out shell of the farm to convert it into a vineyard and winery.  Beau Constantia is the newest, the highest (vines are planted on slopes 350 meters high) and the most creative winery.  Great slogan!

Dawdling over the last of our platter and wine, we relax and revel in the beauty and serenity out here.  A great place to be, I’d even stay out here for a while….maybe on our next trip?  Who knows?

Lunch and tasting over, we hit the Loo with a View, then wander about the property taking various selfies (the one with Ed and the original Winemaker’s beard is the best) and photos of grapes and vistas, then head for the HoHo bus and back to Cape Town.

The ride back is lovely – we score some excellent seats at the front of the upstairs of the bus, snapping away as we go through the Imizamo township, stop at the Hout Bay harbor with the cool boat prow at the entrance, go to the new stop at the end of the harbor with lots of take away restaurants and bars, and this really cool art gallery at the bus stop with amazing art.

Then it is back up the coast, more stunning photos of the coast – including the art vendors set up on the side of the road – more 7 Apostle shots, more Camp’s Bay, and today, a hang glider landing just as we passed. 

Arriving at V&A, today we have time to shop, which we do, hitting the Aquarium gift shop first for replacement Save the Penguins bracelets and others, then finding our Tiger’s Eye bracelets in the V&A marketplace at a better price than Hout Bay, finally ending up in the mall for the Woolworth’s and Pick and Pay where we grab wine and biltong and Mrs. Balls’ Fruit Chutney (which Alan from PE says is the ONLY fruit chutney he will eat) before heading back to the hotel, past the cool Cape Town sign in the circle.

Our room is ready when we arrive, on the 6^th floor in a corner with wrap around windows.  Great views, fantastic space and a refrigerator that works like a freezer (all the better for our warm beer and wine we have brought!). 

Since it is still early, we head downstairs to the gorgeous bar and restaurant for drinks – what a beautiful space! – before returning to finalize our checked luggage packing before dinner. 

Dinner is at the Cape Town Fish Market – never a disappointment!  Sitting on the patio in the shade with a breeze, we enjoy our drinks as we start with Garlic Seafood chowder for Ed and crab and cheese Spring Rolls for me.  I had also ordered Lamb croquettes, which the server brought out with the spring rolls, but they were not the slightest bit warm.  After asking about it, she told me she’d bring me more which worked perfectly as they arrived with Ed’s grilled Hake, Calamari and chips.  Once hot, those lamb croquettes were awesome – but oh so filling! I could barely eat them all – actually I didn’t.  Ed had to finish the last one off.  His meal was equally awesome and filling and we were very glad we had a long walk back to the hotel!

On the way, though, the sunset!  It was so cloudy, we had been commenting that we were very glad we didn’t go on the HoHo sunset ride to Signal Hill as it would have been a waste.  Au contraire Pierre!  My God – the colors of the sunset reflected in the clouds were stunning.  Simply beautiful.  We’ve rarely seen anything like it!  Gorgeous.

A lovely walk in the cool evening air helped us digest our huge meal, and the rest of the evening was spent in the room, hanging out, with an early bed time for an early ride to the airport.  Cannot believe the journey is coming to an end.  Time does fly.