I haven’t been able to write for a while on my blog, but that’s probably because I haven’t traveled too much in the recent weeks! Excuses aside, I was fortunate enough to visit a few great hotels this last weekend. We set off for a journey to the Spier Wine Estate and as many Capetonians know, this is the home to well-known restaurants like Moyo and Jonkershuis as well as the Cheetah breeding project and Eagle encounters. Also, many of the local Capetonians descend upon Spier during the weekend to fight for room on their polished lawns, for their famous picnics. And during fine weather, like it was this last weekend, you can count on the hoards of people flocking to Spier for a nice shady spot under the trees overlooking the vineyards – they have even made their parking lot bigger to accommodate this… This said, it makes the estate appear very much more commercial than it should be and doesn’t really feel like you are visiting to see the countryside.
Our experience started with our stay at the Spier Hotel, which has a beautiful Italian village style to it. The rooms are all gathered in little villa’s amongst avenues and to get to your room, you have to get a lift with your porter on golf carts, which is a thrill! The hotel is graded as a 4 star hotel and the rooms are quite ordinary but still comfortable if you want to spend most of your time exploring the estate or visiting a few other wineries nearby. They have balconies that overlook the grounds and other ‘villa’ style rooms, with several swimming pools dotting the grounds that service some of the rooms, which gives it a personal feel. The hotel has started to take on an organic approach to things, with their own organic vegetable garden and even the pools are painted green at the bottom to blend in with nature! (they are not just green because they haven’t cleaned them in a while)
The hotel reception, bar and lounge area have recently been refurbished and what appealed to me the most was the vibrant colours used along with the beautiful art work on the walls! It truly is beautiful and makes you want to sit around and relax, taking in the lovely surroundings. The hotel restaurant is also really nicely done, with a chic but local taste to it!
I thoroughly enjoyed by visit to Spier and was intrigued to see know many activities with a lot of local flavour are going on. It made me proud to see our African heritage displayed and Moyo Restaurant is an absolute must, (if you’re able to get a booking within the next few busy months!), along with the other theatrical plays and events they are having on at the auditorium. Visit www.spier.co.za for more information.
