South Africa always has something unique to offer.
Spring means Wildflowers. (At least, in the Cape region where it is world famous.)
Spring also means warmer coastal temperatures, which means travelling, wine, beer, and sweets!
So, this spring, we set off just to do that: view the amazing wildflowers, drink copious amounts of wine and beer, and indulge in some sweets made on-site in the small town of Darling, in the Western Cape, South Africa.
This is the journey to and from Darling, mixed with various wildflower sightings, some beer and wine, some farmstalls, and much joy!
So, please come along with me as I show you what it is like on the road when the wildflowers show their beautiful faces, and what the coastal travels look like on the beautiful South African West coast.
An Ocean of Wildflowers
The wildflowers of the West Coast in South Africa are, I think, world-famous. Various international friends always talk about them. But they don't always know just how far these flowers stretch. Some people drive very far to see them, but then some of the flowers are on the doorsteps of locals...
Either way, we made our way out toward St. Helena Bay where we stayed for a couple of days. Our first stop, however, and the main focus of this post, was Darling. On our way, we saw thousands upon thousands of wildflowers.
Alongside the road, we saw many arum lilies with their distinct flowers.
However, most of the flowers alongside the roads are Cape (wild) Daisies, if I am not mistaken.
The white and yellow flowers don't always mix. Sometimes the yellow flowers stretch across vast fields. The white can sometimes look like snow or litter! But it is always white flowers...
Snacks and Cityscapes
Driving without snacks is a sin.
So, we bought some freshly picked blueberries from one of the many wine farms we drove past. In other areas of the country, it is berry season and many wine farms sell this produce alongside their wines.
As we drove through small towns, especially farming towns, beautiful cityscapes accompanied the almost infinite landscapes.
Sometimes the two mixed, with old rural buildings filling the landscapes with a strange sense of nostalgia.
And coloured in with the many thousands of wildflowers, it could not have been more picturesque.
I share here a couple of these "moments" caught in the fleeting brevity which they were...
Driving into Darling (Sweets)
The first important stop was Darling Sweets. My fiance has been talking about it with me for a couple of months. She could not wait when I told her we were going to drive that side of the country. No too far away from my home, but also not that close, it served as a perfect road trip toward our weekend home in St. Helena Bay.
You can smell the sweets as you walk in...
Or so I wanted to believe. But they did make the sweets on-site. Behind a glass window (see photographs below) you can see how they make the sweets.
It is incredible to think about the fact that they hand-make every sweet. Across the whole Cape (and even other parts of the country) you can find Darling Sweet toffees at shops. They are high-end sweets which go for a steep price compared to other sweets, but they sure are the price worth it!
And when you buy from their shop in Darling, you know you will get the best deals! We stocked some for the rest of the year, because why not!?
There was a very colourful (sweets) bath outside the shop:
Can we call these sweetscapes?
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Driving Towards... Driving From...
It did not matter where we drove from or towards, there was always a sign of wildflowers. Underneath sign posts or road boards, always the flowers sticking their heads through the grass or dirt...
A couple of miles from the town, toward our next destination, we stopped at a farm stall. The roads is littered with farm stalls just like wildflowers. Every so often, you drive past one, selling homemade produce and sweets. You cannot stop at each one, but we stopped at one: Weskus Padstal (West coast farm stall).
Here, we also found so many wildflowers, delicious foods, snacks, and animals! Who would have guessed that? (The west coast is not really known for its farm animals, not to the best of my knowledge at least.)
As we got to the snacks, there was a clear division among the family members. I grabbed a beer, my fiance an ice cream, my mother beans, and my father rusks... I wonder where our priorities lie. Jokes aside, we were ready for the journey ahead!
The End as the Beginning of the Trip
In the end, we started. What a beautiful contradiction! Jokes aside, the end of this post is where our trip actually began. We traveled up north, drove past copious amounts of windpumps, and we settled in a very small coastal town. But more about this part of the trip later!
Postscriptum
In the end, we saw anew the landscape come to life, the only country we know. The flowers indicate that summer is on its way, even though as I write these words, we are still in the clutches of winter... The weather is so confused.
In any case, I hope that you enjoyed the virtual journey with me, as we travelled through the West Coast, or at least the start of it.
I hope that you have safe travels.
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All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by my intoxication of all of the flower pollen. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and 50mm Nikkor lens or 300mm Tamron zoom lens.