Skip to content

Relaxing morning, strenuous afternoon

We got up early today to go sea kayaking, but it was too windy, so we changed plans. We had breakfast in the hotel (omelet with sausage and cheese along with 2 breakfast sandwiches for Andrew, scrambled eggs and bacon for me), then we went down to the central beach in Plett, where we learned about the wind problem and decided to sit and read on the beach for a a few hours. I finished both Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow (which I’ll write a separate post on because I learned so much from it) and Muriel Spark’s The Finishing School (which, as the LRB review points out, reads like the brief outline of a more substantial novel). Still I enjoyed it.

Once we’d both finished our books, we went to Cafe Europa as a delaying tactic before lunch. We read the newspapers (lots of bad stuff seems to happen in ZA, though on the hilarious side they file gossip about US celebrities under “World News”. We had lunch at a place called Kitchen. It was very good, and the view out over the bay was lovely. We shared a salmon sushi platter, and then Andrew had a chicken, bacon and cranberry pizza, and I had a salad with avocado and pumpkin seeds.

We went home and changed quickly before heading to the Robberg Peninsula, where we did an 7.5 mile hike down to the point and back. There were way more steep bits than I had anticipated (according to My Tracks we climbed 1 mile vertically), but the views were amazing. Pictures forthcoming, I hope. The hike was a giant loop, starting on the Plettenberg Bay side (where we saw hundreds if not thousands of seals), and then up on the Indian Ocean side, where there were GIANT waves. It reminded me a lot of the Cinque Terre. They said the hike would take 4 hours, but it only took 2:45. Go us.

We went back to the hotel, showered and got dressed for dinner, had a little talk, and watched the Downton Behind the Scenes special. I also started reading The Art of Racing in the Rain.

Dinner was at Emily Moon’s, which is a stone’s throw from our hotel, up on a hill with a beautiful view of the river below. If we ever come back to this part of the world, we’re staying at the lodge there. We started with G&Ts on the veranda before moving inside and sharking a bottle of SA bubbly (Krone Cap Classic 2008), which was wonderful. For food, we again shared a sushi platter. Andrew had spring rolls and an ‘Asian red beef curry’, followed by fresh mint tea. I had a caprese salad, kudu steak with raspberry puree & mash, followed by vanilla crème brûlée. All of it was fantastic (as was the service)

Now we’re back home reading before bed.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *