Third and final comments on SA

(If you haven’t been glued to your computer waiting for the next enthralling installment of my insights into all things soccer and South Africa, shame on you. If you missed these earlier, page down as necessary. At your own risk.)

It is just shy of 230 pm in Cape Town and I am sitting in the airport ready to begin what will be something like 36 hours of travel back to Steamboat. Cape Town-Joburg-Atlanta- Denver- drive home. These last two weeks have gone by pretty quickly, with yesterday afternoon the first time I was even somewhat at a loss for something to do. The morning and afternoon were busy, but the Paraguay v Japan game did not interest me that much (it was a dreadful game- look it up) and the rain, the first we’ve seen in two weeks, kept us inside. We got very lucky with the weather, being on the ocean in both Cape Town and Durban and thus avoiding the cold weather, including some below zero temperatures, experienced in the Johannesburg area over the past few weeks.

On the plane now. It is a 2 hour flight from Cape Town, which is in the southwest corner of the country and was founded in the 1600s as a provisioning station for ships going from Europe to Asia, and Joburg, which is in the north central/northeast and was founded in the 1800s after the discovery of diamonds and gold nearby. We avoided Joburg on this trip due to the winter weather and the extraordinarily high crime rate in the city. I am very happy with our choices, although I do wish we had gone into a township to see how the majority of the urban black community lives. We thought about going on a tour yesterday but the price was exorbitant and the weather forecast was as it turned out. Maybe it is shallow, but going through a shanty town in the rain held little appeal. We did drive by townships throughout our trip, in Durban, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and others, and it would have been interesting to try and see beyond the squalor- next time.

Speaking of Stellenbosch, we did drive to the wine country on Tuesday (you already know that if you are following instructions and reading along with Jordan’s blog to keep track of our daily doings) and visited that city (the second oldest town in the country and the home of a major university) as well as the nearby Franschoek valley. While Stellenbosch was a comfortable scaled place with nice shops and a pleasant vibe, the Franschhoek area was amazing. The topography was surreal, with classically beautiful wine valleys (think Napa, Tuscany, etc) but with the surrounding hills replaced by extremely high, extremely steep and craggy mountains- like the Grand Tetons on steroids. If I can figure out how to post photos on this blog, I will do so (will have to ask Jordan for help). We also tasted some very good wine, including some sparkling and whites that were very pleasant, with the most notable from a producer called Bloehoutenskloof (a typically unpronounceable Afrikaans name) or something like that. They had a few very good wines, the best of which were a syrah blend called Chocolate Block which sells for $20 in SA and something like $50 at home if you can find it. They also had a superb reserve syrah which is fully allocated to their mailing list and costs over $50 in SA.

Throughout our stay we drank well. Never too much but pretty good stuff at all turns. The local beers, including such brands as Castle, Carling Black Label, and Windschoek, are quite good. When we drank wine at night, we found the whites, notably the sauvignon blanc, more pleasing than the reds. In particular, the pinotage, which is the local red grape, was generally not good, with at least one highly touted one tasting like it had been poured through yesterday’s leftover coffee grounds. With more time and more wine drinkers in tow, it would be fun to explore more of the non pinotage wine country here.

Shock of shocks, we also ate quite well. In the Durban area the star was Mundo Vida in the beachfront town of Umhloti. The owner came to our b and b and drove us the 10 minutes to dinner and it was fabulous. Scott and I had a mixed seafood platter, with mussels, calamari, prawns and cape salmon (a local fish that tastes like a less oily salmon from home) cooked with spices (peri-peri) and oil in the style of Mozambique. This place was so good that we went back for lunch one day and I was blown away by a beautiful platter of langoustines (also from Mozambique, which is on the north east border of SA and which has a very long coastline) that were steamed with lemongrass and other asian spices in a Chinese steamer. Extraordinarily sweet.

Two places stood out in Cape Town. The first, CarneSA, is a steak house owned by a chef from Milan who also owns a Milanese restaurant across the street. I read about this in a US travel magazine and made a reservation months ago, not that it was necessary since the world cup crowds were generally smaller than originally expected and many of those that did come were more interested in hanging out in bars than in real food (not to engage in stereotyping but this was especially true of the English- ask Nancy about the toothless old drunk in an English jersey that tried to hug her outside a riverside bar in Cologne after an English goal in World Cup 2006). This place had its bar and kitchen on the main level and dining room- all concrete and steel but still quite warm and cozy feeling- downstairs. The beef is all raised on the owners ranch and is from 24 month old all grass fed, antibiotic cows of the Romangola breed from Italy (having just finished the great new book Steak- highly recommended, I am an instant expert- you must be shocked- on all things beef). Jordan and I had the dry aged prime rib cut (what we call a bone-in ribeye which, as pointed out in the aforementioned Steak, is a misnomer since ribeye means the piece cut off the rib and therefore can’t have a bone- but I digress) and it was perfect. Nice gamy dry aged flavor and real beefy. Scott’s rump steak was also great, as were the sides (sautéed spinach for me) and apps.

The other place of note was the Noon Gun Tea Room in the Malay Quarter (a historically muslim area also referred to as Bo Kaap). We went there for a late lunch before heading back to our bed and breakfast- a great place called the Blackheath Lodge which I highly recommend for the quality of the rooms, the hospitality and professionalism of its staff, and the convenience of its location (just up from the beach, a 10-15 minute walk to the stadium and a bit longer to the waterfront and downtown)- to suffer through Paraguay v Japan on TV. Dinner was skipped due to our last in person game of the trip that night, Spain v Portugal, so lunch could be gluttonous.

Cape Malay cuisine is the local take on Malaysian and other Asian food and is highly spiced but not hot. Appetizers included samosas, some kind of crispy flat breads and some sort of a chickpea fritter- all highly flavorful. The boys followed that with two types of curried beef dishes- Jordan’s a stew and Scott’s a casserole- while I went with a masala (curry) spiced snoek (a local fish) with baked eggplant on the side. All perfecty spiced, extremely flavorful and very satisfying. We left full but wanting to come back soon. If we had more days in Cape Town, this would certainly have been a repeat place.

My original post included some negative comments on the city of Cape Town. After spending another 4 days there, this time without the ridiculous jet lag, I have somewhat modified my opinion. We stayed in a nice neighborhood in the city this time instead of in the northern suburbs, and while I stick by my comments on the overall lack of architectural interest in the city, we did see some very nice areas. The Company Gardens in the city center were very pretty and the Parliament Buildings were impressive. The Malay Quarter is highly touted for its vividly colored buildings and steep, narrow cobblestoned streets- we found it good for a 20 minute drive around the area. Long Street, the shopping and restaurant center of downtown, is kind of like a South African Bourbon Street- the bars were hopping and we found some great places to watch soccer and shop (particularly enjoyed the Pan African Market- 3 stories of some junky some nice folk art and curios). In all, I liked Cape Town as a base to see great areas, a place with very diverse neighborhoods and a city with incomparably beautiful surroundings. And the people, like those in Durban were extremely nice (especially George Lockhart, our driver and guide to all things Kwa Zulu Natal).

This has been a really good trip. The three of us had an easy time traveling together and we had some really amazing experiences (including that bath at the safari lodge). The soccer has been spotty- some games great to watch (Brazil v Chile, US v Slovenia) and some really bad ones (Paraguay v Japan, Engand v Algeria, Brazil v Portugal). When I think about the tournament so far, I can’t help but comment on the things that FIFA must fix and fix soon. First, the game is too fast and too physical for the referees. There always seem to be bad calls, but this was silly- the disallowed US goal, the England goal that should have been, the Tevez goal that was clearly offside, absurd red and yellow cards, allowing player to flop and dive and feign injury and waste time with barely a complaint. Referees clearly do not have the tools to manage the game at this point and FIFA has to step in. Goal line technology, instant replay, extra refs on the field- whatever. Something has to be instituted sooner rather than later and if done correctly, this can only help the refs and not strip them of their dignity (but who really cares? The game is about the players and the fans. Having said that, I would not trust the crooks and buffoons at FIFA- check out stories on the ticketing and hotel reservation setup, the amount of money made, the inside deals, the petty enforcement of their silly rules on marketing and on government interference- to do it right). And the vuvuzelas must be outlawed. I still have a headache and have undoubtedly inched closer yet to a hearing aid.

Having said all that, I definitely will go to another world cup, probably not to Brazil (Rio has little appeal to me and it is probably best to skip one somewhere along the way, probably yes to 2018 if it is England (no if it is in Russia) and certainly the next one in the US (2022?). I will also look forward to my next trip to South Africa, which will include some touring in the surrounding countries (Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique). It will be interesting to see how the country feels without the glow of the World Cup.

Oh- you are probably all (both?) waiting for my comments on the soccer to come. We were crushed by the USA loss to Ghana, although it was wild to watch it in a bar packed with South Africans rooting for Ghana as Africa’s last hope in the tournament, and were mesmerized by Brazil’s skill. Spain, especially with Torres out and Llorente in, and the Netherlands look good too, as do Argentina and Germany. My picks in the 1/4s (which start tomorrow) are Ghana over Uruguay, Brazil over the Dutch (although this could go either way), Spain over Paraguay, and Argentina over Germany (also could go either way). In the semis, the winner of Brazil/Holland beats Ghana and Spain beats Argentina. For some reason I see Spain beating Brazil and the Dutch beating Spain if they get there. I am not rushing off to Vegas to place these bets.