Wednesday, Feb 21:

• Arrive at Cape Town International Airport to be met by Green Route Africa, our travel consultants, and escorted to your hotel.
  • The Table Bay Hotel 021-406-5000
  • The Commodore Hotel 021-415-1000
  • The Mount Nelson Hotel 021-483-1000
  • Protea Hotel Cape Town on North Wharf (by Marriott) 021-443-4600
• 6:30 pm: Welcome Reception: Introductions, rules of the road, and introductory comments from John Matisonn. Heavy hors d’oeuvres. The Pavilion, Table Bay Hotel. 

Thursday, Feb 22:

• Jet lag recovery! Morning at leisure in your hotel/ Victoria and Albert Waterfront.
• 1:00 pm: Scenic Drive to Table Mountain. (Pick up at hotels.) Travel to top of Table Mountain by cable car to enjoy the panoramic view and toast the Mother City.
• 4:30 pm: Return to hotels for more jet lag recovery.
• 6:30 pm: Leave hotels for dinner at the Bungalow Restaurant, Camps Bay. (Sunset at 7:30 pm.)

Friday, Feb 23:

• Breakfast at leisure at your hotel.
• 10:30 am: Depart hotels (bus pick up) for walking Orientation Tour of Cape Town’s city centre, visiting the historic Company Gardens, Parliament, St. George’s Cathedral, and District Six. Informal talks by John Matisonn along the way.
• Snack lunch at leisure at any of the little cafes or corner shops while on the walking tour.
• 2:30 pm: High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel, a colonial hotel set amongst extensive gardens near the centre of town.
• 7:00 pm: Q&A Session with John Matisonn at the Pavilion, Table Bay Hotel. Light canapes menu.

Saturday, Feb 24:

• 9:00 am: Depart hotels for full day exploration of the scenic Cape Peninsula and the Cape Point Nature Reserve, traveling along the rugged cliff sides of Chapman’s Peak Drive to the Cape of Good Hope, declared in 1580 by Sir Francis Drake to be “the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the Earth.” Hike or ride the funicular up to the Cape Point Lighthouse and view the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. 
• 12:00 noon: Lunch at Two Oceans Restaurant, Cape Point.
• 2:00 pm: Depart Cape Point to visit the African Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach near Simon’s Town. Return to your hotel for a brief rest.
• 6:30 pm: Depart hotels for dinner at Buitenverwachting Wine Estate in Constantia.

Sunday, Feb 25:

• 8:00 am: Leave hotels to walk to the Clock Tower, V&A Waterfront, in preparation for a 9:00 am departure by ferry to Robben Island, primary site of Nelson Mandela’s 27-year incarceration along with many other political prisoners, for private guided tour.
• 12:45 pm: Light lunch at Harbour House Restaurant.
• 2:00 pm: Depart V&A Waterfront for afternoon tour of Langa Township, one of the large peri-urban racially segregated communities established during apartheid for black Africans, now dichotomous places of poverty and vibrant community life.
• 5:45 pm: Depart hotels for Gold Restaurant.
• 6:30 pm: (Strict set time) Participatory drumming at Gold.
• 7:00 pm: 14-Course pan-African taster menu dinner at Gold Restaurant – a high-energy, eclectic dining and entertainment experience, complete with drumming, singing and dancing. (No gatering!)

Monday, Feb 26:

• 7:30 am: Depart hotels.
• 8:00 am: Tour the Heart of Cape Town Museum at Groote Schuur Hospital, site of the first human heart transplant, December 1967.
• 9:20 am: Campus tour of the University of Cape Town.
• 10:30 am: Lecture by Sarah Fawcett, BS Harvard ’06, PhD Princeton ’12, currently with the Department of Oceanography at UCT, on the ocean’s influence on climate change. (Invitation courtesy of Anne and Bill Charrier.)
• 11:45 am: Visit the Rhodes Memorial, with comments on Cecil John Rhodes, the man and the symbol, by John Matisonn.
• 12:30 pm: Picnic lunch at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
• 1:00 pm:  Private guided tours of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, established in 1913 to protect the vast floral wealth of the Cape region and now home to over 22,000 indigenous plants.
• 2:45 pm: Return to hotels for afternoon at leisure. Suggestions for those with surplus energy: The Two Oceans Aquarium, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, shopping at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.
• 6:30 pm: Walk along waterfront to… 
• 7:00 pm: Dinner at the chic and funky Grand Café and Beach in Granger Bay, adjacent to the V&A Waterfront, where we will be joined by a number of local Princeton alums and their partners as our guests.

Tuesday, Feb 27:

• 9:00 am: Leave Cape Town for the Winelands. 
• 10:00 am: Walking tour of the picturesque university town of Stellenbosch and the well-regarded, primarily Afrikaans university.
• 12:30 pm: Tastings lunch at leisure at Spice Route Destination – food and drink and artisans emporium.
• 2:30 pm: Visit the Taal Monument in Paarl, erected to honor the Afrikaans language and the significance of language to a people’s identity.
• 3:30 pm: Talk by Andries Botha, former Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (the official opposition) and DA leader of the Free State, on Afrikaner history and culture. Oude Bethlehem Farm.
• 5:00 pm: Arrive at Le Franschhoek Hotel and Spa, our accommodations for the next two nights. 021-876-8900.
• 7:00 pm: Depart for dinner at Haute Cabriere Cellar Restaurant, overlooking the winery’s maturation cellar.

Wednesday, Feb 28:

• 10:30 am:  Depart hotel for Chocolate and Wine Tasting at the Boschendal Wine Estate. Private tours of the wine cellar included.
• 12:30 pm: Visit the socially progressive Solms Delta Wine Estate for wine tasting and picnic lunch. Tour the museum, documenting the slave heritage and music culture in this 300-year-old wine area.
• 2:30 pm: Return to Le Franschhoek Hotel and Spa for afternoon at leisure and some rest.
• 6:30 pm: Depart for Farewell Bubbles and Braai dinner (“braai” being the South African version of a barbeque, with lamb chops and boerewors cooked over an open fire) at Bosman’s Restaurant, Grand Roche Hotel, Paarl.

Thursday, March 1:

• 7:00 am: For those continuing on to the Garden Route Sequel: Depart by coach.  (Please have luggage ready by 6:15 am.)
• 8:00 - 11:00 am: Departure for those going to Cape Town International Airport for onward or home-bound flight, as arranged by Green Route Africa.