Thursday, November 18, 2021

MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 9. The Drostdy Hotel, Graaff-Reinet

We wanted to break our trip in Graaff-Reinet for a couple of days. It was the actual inspiration for the trip. Over the years, we have travelled to places that one of us had visited before, but the other had not seen. This time, it was John’s turn. Lynne had never been to the central Karoo. John’s maternal grandmother’s family had farmed here since the late 18th Century and his grandmother was born in Graaff-Reinet in 1883. After the end of his service to Queen Victoria in the South African War, his Scots/Irish grandfather, William Duncan, came to the town in his travels, met Drienie Bischoff and married her on 26 November 1906. We admired some of the very beautifully restored National Monuments and preserved houses. Dr Anton Rupert did an enormous amount of good to Graaff-Reinet, funding many reconstruction projects and other community aid projects. His investment in the town, where he was born in 1916, was huge and, probably because of his family’s continued influence, the condition of the town is much better than any other place we have visited in the Eastern Cape

Lynne found on Booking.com that the famous and historic Drostdy Hotel was running some very good specials. The town was so much bigger than she had expected; it has spread so much, but the centre is still full of historic buildings. This is the original entrance to the Drostdy Hotel on Church Street. It is in the classic Cape Dutch style. A Drostdy is the office or residence of a landdrost, a Boer magistrate in a rural district of South Africa prior to the establishment of British administration. It was designed by Louis Thibault (1750-1815), who was a French-born South African architect, land surveyor and engineer of extraordinary talent. He designed numerous buildings in the Cape Colony, many still surviving. The building was completed in 1806 and, served as an official building. It provided accommodation for such luminaries as Lord Charles Somerset and Sir Rufane Donkin, early Governors of the Cape Colony. Nowadays you go around the corner to the new entrance to enter the reception and use the protected parking

The entrance leads to this enclosed garden, the reception and restaurant






The walkway to our suite. The garden areas are so well planted and maintained
We were delighted to discover, on arrival, that we had been upgraded to the top accommodation

which leads to the small houses that have been adapted to hotel accommodation

Stretch's Court - Now used by the Drostdy Hotel as accommodation, Stretch's Court is a unique street which has been restored to its original appearance. It was named after the Government Land Surveyor at Graaff-Reinet, Captain Lennox Stretch. It was sold to him in 1855. He divided the original stand into allotments in 1858 and sold them to various buyers, among who were emancipated slaves. The houses are now beautiful accommodation for the hotel

and each area has a courtyard with a swimming pool. This is the view from our front door
We had so much to do that we did not have time to laze by the pool, but many guests were enjoying the peace

A vine covered porch and our entrance

The décor is beautiful, a blend of old furniture and very comfortable, crisp, light and calm modern furnishings

The huge bed was very comfortable, the desk for our computers was much appreciated,
there is free and good Wi-Fi, and a lovely comfortable seating area

A TV, with satellite channels, also serves as the information source for the room. Because of Covid they do not have an information book. And the phone connects to reception if you want information or room service. We did not need the fire, but in the winter it would be very welcome. The air conditioning worked very well and was silent

We had been left a good bottle of wine, some nuts, biltong and droëwors


The very large and spotless bathroom is beautiful

Because of the drought, we did not use the bath; the shower is very good

We booked a table for dinner in the restaurant but, sadly,
not quickly enough to get a table outside on the warm and balmy evening

They gave us a good table near the window. Breakfast is also served here and on the terrace

Nicely presented sanitised cutlery. The hotel observes all the necessary Covid protocols and there are sanitisers in many places. The Hotel is linked with the SA College for Tourism and they offer annual internship and learnership positions to thirty female SA College for Tourism graduates, who are all being trained in the Hotel. This initiative, led by the Peace Parks Foundation, supports the drive towards equal opportunities for women in the workplace and it opens the door to an excellent learning platform where graduates receive on-the-job training over the period of a year. One of the trainees was in charge of our suite and looking after us

The Main course menu is quite comprehensive but, be warned, the size of portions is very large

We decided against a starter, as we were finding that we were eating quite a lot on holiday

Lynne thought that the Chicken Supreme she ordered might be a lighter main course! The supreme was so enormous, it had been cut in half and she could only manage to eat one half. The mushroom 'bisque' it came with was more like a thick mushroom purée, very enjoyable and very filling, with sliced fried mixed mushrooms beneath the chicken, great for someone like Lynne who loves mushrooms but can’t cook them for John. She had a glass of the house Sauvignon Blanc with her meal

John chose the Lamb curry, nicely spiced and not very hot, with sambals and rice. John had a glass of the house Chenin Blanc with his curry. They are not big on vegetables in the Karoo! In fact the standing joke is that here, where meat and the braai is king, Chicken is a vegetable

The very helpful, friendly and professional Food and Beverage Manager, Pieter Arendse showed us the hotel's Vinoteque
and invited us to a tasting. Sadly, Lynne was feeling a little unwell and wanted to rest,
(nothing serious, something she ate or the heat; over in 24 hours) so John went on his own and had a great tasting

Some of those vintage wines. The hotel is owned by the Rupert family, as is the wine farm L'Ormarins in Franschhoek

John had a very good time, chatting to Pieter and tasting four of the very good L’Ormarins wines. The previous evening, before dinner, Pieter had shown us his amazing wine collection, with top-of-the-range South African wines; lots of vintages, many now unavailable generally and some exceptional French, which made us so envious; there were several of our favourites. He also has some other good foreign wines. So if you want to stay in the hotel and drink great white and red Burgundies or Médocs, make a reservation

They had prepared a lovely cheese and fruit platter for us, so John brought it back to the room for us to sample later,
after our sunset visit to the Valley of Desolation

Impressive wine storage

At breakfast the next morning and the next day, we did get a lovely table outside. Afterwards, we went into town to the tourist office to get some information about the Camdeboo National Park and the Valley of Desolation, before visiting them. Lynne also needed to have the frame of her prescription sunglasses tightened and we found a very pleasant optician, who did it for free; they kept falling off her face, which can be disastrous when climbing mountains




Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and Hollandaise sauce

and a wonderful fluffy omelette with bacon and cheese

Green tea and black coffee and the obligatory toast and marmalade completed our breakfast. The choices are huge

We then did a little exploring of the historical rooms in the old part of the Drostdy,
mainly used for conferences and meetings

Some lovely antique furniture in the Cape Dutch style


The renovations throughout the hotel have revived it to another level
The Newmark Hotels group is managing the hotel and there is a huge improvement

The library

and the old kitchen is now a very trendy bar

Clever use of Chinese pottery and a comfortable place to sit in the hallway

Breakfast on the second morning was flapjacks with maple syrup, crispy bacon and some berries

Or a fry up of scrambled egg, fried bread, tomato, sausage and bacon

A classic Dylan Lewis sculpture of a cheetah, which we photographed as we left for our next port of call, Addo
 We absolutely loved our stay at the Drostdy and hope to return some day
It was not John's first visit; he came here in 1970 with his mother, visiting her original home

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Wednesday, November 17, 2021

MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 8. Through the Karoo to Graaff-Reinet

Today we were leaving pretty Prince Albert and heading for Graaff-Reinet and the Valley of Desolation. It was going to be quite a long drive and we would be leaving the Western Cape, entering the Eastern Cape and climbing up to the Great Karoo. We headed first for Klaarstroom

After that the road becomes quite straight and easy. When you see a stand of these huge old eucalyptus or pepper trees, know that they have a history in South Africa. They were often planted to give shade to a wagon train, so the people and oxen could get relief from the overbearing midday heat


The temperature  that day reached 35ºC, the hottest we had seen so far this year

Then it was off up the last mountain pass and we found ourselves crossing from the Western Cape (good roads) to the Eastern Cape (not bad roads today, but we'd heard stories of what was to come….) Then we were also moving from the Little Karoo to the Great Karoo, where the plains are flat and very dry and the mountains disappear to waaaay away, nearly at the horizon

The last of the onion fields



Then we drove through the entirely amazing Meiringspoort mountain pass to De Rust. It is not a high pass, just a river route that has cut itself through the mountains. What an incredible drive that was; everyone should do it at least once. Lynne kept thinking of the amazement of the first people who found their way through the rocks and followed the river - and of the Voortrekkers with their ox wagons, struggling over the rocks

Disconcertingly, they warn you of rockfalls as you enter but, apparently, floods are something to beware of too
However, the weather was wonderful and so no sign of any flooding this time

To enliven the tedium of the long journey, we were animal and bird spotting all day. Baboons trying to find mates, tiny vervet monkeys, lots of Angora goats and sheep, two mules and some horses. Sadly and separately, two bat eared foxes that had been killed by traffic. And no raptors except large black crows. We suspect that the drought has killed off most of their prey, so they have moved to greener pastures. Once we had gone through the pass, the temperature became hotter; we had to stop and rescue this large fellow who was attempting to cross the road

John carried him to the other side where he was heading and got hissed at for his efforts
But there are some very fast cars on this long straight stretch of road

You can tell it is heating up when the sheep huddle together so they can hang their heads in shade

An old wind pump, a Karoo trade mark
Water is very scarce in the Karoo and this borehole probably goes down a long way

Long straight roads, a heat haze and not much greenery

We stopped in Willowmore for a small lunch; we fancied toasties


Not necessarily the right place to stop but we wanted to be quick and couldn't see many places


We sat on the stoep


Lynne had a glass of Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc;
it appeared to have been opened a while before, so she put in a LOT of ice

We just wanted a simple sandwich and a cold drink
 Well, that was the plan, but what arrived was not a club sandwich as we know it

it was enormous with two poached eggs and chicken hiding under the pesto spread and local bread

John had something unusual. An overstuffed sandwich called a Catemba, which South Africans know as a cocktail of Red wine and Coca Cola, originally from Mozambique. This was slow cooked pulled beef that had been cooked in the red wine and cola! Both enjoyable, but just too big to finish

Exploring the interior, we found a deli

with pies

a second-hand clothing shop

and a bar


A well-preserved building, built in 1910

We were just saying, as we left Willowmore, how little litter we had seen so far on our trip ...

...and then we reached Aberdeen

The best bit, as we were approaching Aberdeen, was the view of the blue mountains in the distance as they came closer. In this part of the Karoo the hills change to mountains with flat tops (Mesas) and to pointed mountains like our own Lion's Head and they are truly magnificent to see. Sadly the veld was littered with plastic garbage. We stopped to take a photo; there was an entire field completely covered in plastic, so depressing. People just don't seem to care and the animals are eating amongst it

much of it was also along the road

So sad

One of these goats had managed to get through the fence
and kept wandering up and down alongside its companion on the other side

Then around the side of one of the hills, there was the town of Graaff-Reinet
Lynne was expecting something small, like Prince Albert but, apparently, it is one of the largest towns in the Karoo
We checked in at our hotel, the Drostdy


Next: the Drostdy Hotel (click here)

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