City Tour and Constantia Wineries

South Africa's most respected and honored is the City Hall, where the late former South African president Nelson Mandela released his speech after he was released from 27 years in prison. It was here in 1990 that 250 000 gathered to welcome Nelson Mandela after his release.

The second oldest existing colonial building in South Africa is the Slave Lodge. This Slave Lodge housed slaves who worked for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and they were never sold up until some of them were old and couldn't do the work. Here you will get a brief history of slavery in South Africa when it began, the lives of slaves, as well as when and why it was abolished.

The Cape Malay Quarters, known as Bo-Kaap. After our visit to Slave Lodge, we head straight to the colorful houses of the Cape. Bo-Kaap is where numerous rental houses were built and leased to slaves. Soon after the slaves were allowed to buy the houses they painted them with different bright colors as an expression of their freedom. Here there are a variety of craft markets, the first established Muslim mosque in South Africa, and also different restaurants with the most delicious dishes of the Malaysians and discover their cooking style.

After city tour, we will set off on our Constantia Winelands private tour which we have dubbed: The Simon van der Stel wine tour. We will travel from Cape Town along the M3 passing Rhodes Memorial and the University of Cape Town (UCT) and proceed on the M41 to our first wine stop for the day which is Constantia Glen wine estate. Perched high up on the hill with amazing views of mountains and vineyards, Constantia Glen was originally part of the Simon van der Stel farm. After undergoing farming changes including forest hills farming and cattle stud farming, it returned to its original farming of wine. The wine production is 70% Red and 30% White cultivars.

We then proceed to the historical Groot (meaning Big) Constantia wine estate. Groot Constantia is the oldest wine-producing farm in South Africa since 1685 and even after the farm had changed ownership, it still maintains the production of high-quality, award-winning wine. The farm produces 70% Red and 30% White cultivars. We can recommend a beautiful lunch either at Simon’s Restaurant or at Jonkershuis Restaurant, both set on this exquisite wine estate.

Our next stop is at Klein (meaning Little) Constantia wine estate. Set on the foothills of the Constantiaberg, with spectacular views across False Bay, Klein Constantia was also part of the Constantia farm by Simon van der Stel in 1685. Through its decomposed granite soil slopes and cool ocean breeze, Klein Constantia produces some of South Africa’s top wine. The farm produces 30% Red and 70% White cultivars.