hemel, aarde, water (heaven, earth, water)
What I look forward to most when we have a Hermanus holiday planned is doing …
Words Louise McCann
… nothing. There’s only one holiday house rule and this is it: ‘Sleep is good. People who sleep in late are to be congratulated. Afternoon naps are the order of the day. And those who fit in a decadent nap between breakfast and lunch deserve deep respect.’ It sets the tone. That doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to rise early and stroll down the road for a glorious swim in the sea or Fick’s pool, or go crayfishing at dawn. It doesn’t mean we’ve ever had a holiday here that wasn’t full and rich with experience. It just gives us all the freedom to relax and do exactly what we feel like doing in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
If you let that sentiment and the famous Hermanus champagne air seep into your soul, you’ll find yourself held in the strong and gentle heart of this place. We’ve been escaping to Hermanus ‘forever’. My great-grandparents immigrated here almost a century ago. My grandmother and her sisters grew up barefoot and feisty in this town. And my father and his daughters can measure the seasons of our lives in Hermanus holidays. Our family has moved and changed and grown, but this is the place that brings us back together. For us, the best of Hermanus is what each generation has experienced and loved. Heaven, Earth, Water. Hemel, Aarde, Water.
High up in the Hermanus mountains, open sky, silence, drifting clouds, fynbos air, a flock of racing pigeons swoop and circle as if they are one bird. Down below, wide roads lazily criss-cross like long-healed scars, and lead to the twinkling sea. Sometimes the mist does such beautiful ballet down these slopes that the gods weep over the rooftops below.
If you’re looking for the road to heaven, you’ll find it at the white gates marked ‘Rotary Way’ as you drive into Hermanus. Turn off and follow the winding road. The hills are encrusted with fynbos and proteas. Stop and get out. Hear your feet crunch on the gravel road. Listen to the insects and bees. Find a bum-shaped rock and make it your throne. There’s a soul-quenching view in front of you. Dream a while…
Walking in paradise means packing a picnic of ripe plums, baguettes filled with good cheese, chocolate digestive biscuits and Stoney ginger beer. You’ll find Fernkloof Nature Reserve in the Kleinrivier mountains above Hermanus. Choose your trail to wander through coastal fynbos or beautiful evergreen forest – my favourite takes you to the reservoir. Arrive hot and sweaty, leap into the cool brackish water and then tuck into your rations as the sun warms your skin. Hoy’s Koppie is a molehill compared to the mountains, but it will still make you huff and puff. Spare a thought for the men who carried the coffins of Sir William Hoy and his wife to the top … heavy going. It’s a ceremonial walk in the centre of Hermanus, often witnessed by shy tortoises with all-knowing looks.
The nectar of the bacchanalian gods, particularly the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay cultivars, flows from the Hemel-en-Aarde valley. Spend a day wine wandering. Some estates require you to book before you arrive, so pop into the Hermanus Tourism office to organise this. Choose a designated driver then spend the day splashing vino into goblets at Hamilton Russell Vineyard, Bouchard Finlayson, Sumaridge, Newton Johnson and Whalehaven (try Idiom wines here too). There are estates along the Hemel-en-Aarde Road that don’t offer wine tastings, but The Wine Village at the entrance to Hermanus is filled with liquid ambrosia, stocking local labels among the 1 600 on offer.
Join the brave hearts floating, swirling and gliding beneath bright, silky parachutes and bird-like gliders. The drone of a small engine, a flash of sunlight against an aeroplane windscreen. It’s the Flight of Giants that takes off from Pearly Beach and swoops out to sea to spy on the whales. To get so close to the gentle giants and not disturb them … exhilarating.
Celestial wonders are best observed while fishing on the harbour wall at night watching a huge moon rise. Stay outside long after dinner, lean back into your seats, look up and count the shooting stars.
Cradled between the mountains and the sea, it seems as if the sun orbits around the town, showing off its talents for warming up the mornings, scattering diamonds across the water, streaking the sky scarlet and mandarin and transforming the mountains into rose-pink elephants at dusk.
Walk the moody trail along the cliff paths, taking its cue from the ebb and flow of the ocean that pounds against its rocky sides. As children, we were told that pirates used to work these coves and my grandfather, quiet and sparkly, used to fish for galjoen at a secret spot along these shores. Several times I’ve walked around a bend and heard the unmistakable sound of a whale exhaling mere metres away. On beautiful evenings, take a surreptitious bottle of bubbly and wedge yourselves in on the rock face for sundowners. The Hermanus Golf Course is another of Hermanus’ quiet earthly pleasures. The recent remodelling and addition of an extra nine holes makes for fired-up post-mortems over Steelworks at the club’s bar.
If shopping is more your speed, you’ll find that Hermanus has a village beat – you wander the streets here. Start with a pancake at the market in the village square. Buy a kite, fishing tackle, art supplies and more at Niel du Toit on Main Road. The Factory Shop across the road offers serious bargains and further back, The Beach House brims with treasure. The SPCA shop is intriguing, you may even find a designer garment donated by a wealthy Hermanus widow.
Above the Old Harbour you’ll find The Book Cottage, with it’s astute grip on the book scene, and The Fisherman’s Gallery across the road. The simple paintings of Johan de Vries, Richard Scott’s cheeky artworks and Cher van Schouw’s portraiture are here. Close by, the De Wet’s Huis Photographic Museum, houses fascinating sepia photographs of Hermanus’ past.
Where there is happiness on earth, there is generally good food. Have a soft serve from Princess Cafe in Main Road – best eaten when your feet are powdered with beach sand. Lusitania in the New Harbour is one of the town’s dusty jewels – a take-away nook in a corner makes huge portions of delicious deep-fried calamari. Take it down to the harbour wall where a rusty bollard makes a comfortable stool. In town, The Barefoot Cook is good for coffee, cake and light lunches.
The great South African fish braai and Hermanus are synonymous – best enjoyed after eight. Buy fresh fish from Lusitania and stand around the braai feeling the warm glow of the coals as the heat and smoke perform their alchemy on the catch of the day. Or brave the stairs down to Bientangs Cave and have it done for you, with the added novelty of eating in a seaside cave.
When I was little, the scent of Youth Dew perfume meant my parents were escaping for dinner to The Burgundy Restaurant. It’s still there, with its thick white-washed walls, a place for elegant grown-ups to eat fine food by candlelight. Another special place is Quayside Cabin in the New Harbour. Housed in a shipping container overlooking the fishing boats, it’s a local haunt where you can put your elbows on the table. (Make sure you book ahead.) Just up the road is The Harbour Rock Seafood Grill and Sushi Bar; get there before sunset to watch the sun go down from the adjoining Gecko Bar.
Shimmy Bar, high in the sky above the Old Harbour, is good for cocktails and a boogie later. For grunge pavement culture, stop for beer, ciggies and backgammon at Zebra Crossing. On the other end of the tipple scale is The Sun Lounge in The Marine hotel. Drinks in the cocktail lounge can spill into dinner at the hotel’s Seafood Express One Plate Cafe, The Pavilion or Seafood at The Marine.
Deep, moody and enchantingly beautiful, the sea gives generously to the people of Hermanus. Bubbling ripples washing over sandy feet, diving through a breaking wave, an anemone shrinking shyly away from human touch, waking in the quiet early hours to the sound of whale tails slapping the water … these are some of her pleasures.
Hermanus’ two picturesque harbours are essential ports of call. De Wet’s Huis Photo Museum and the Old Harbour Museum paint an evocative picture of this harbour’s past. Use the telescopes at the top to whale spot, then walk down and imagine the glory days of the harbour’s past. My grandmother used to help pull the fishing boats into the safety of the harbour in stormy weather.
The New Harbour is a working harbour and a haven for colourful wooden fishing vessels. Organise deep-sea trips or scuba-diving here. Night fishing on the edge of the piers for tasty little maasbankers and chokka is a satisfying pursuit, and is all the better when accompanied by a flask of Amarula coffee.
Waving tails and deep-sea ‘fountains’ announce the annual arrival of the southern right whales. They start appearing in late May to mate and give birth in Walker Bay, but you’re most likely to sight them from August to November. Those with good sea legs, take a boat trip from the New Harbour or take to the skies on the Flight of Giants. The Whale Show at the Whale Museum tells the fascinating story of their underwater lives and runs daily at 10 am and 3 pm.
You’re not on holiday until you’ve submerged your body in refreshing sea water. The tidal pool below the Marine Hotel is a good place to ease into the swimming season. Early in the morning you’ll often find gracious grannies in vintage costumes and swimming caps doing their daily lengths. Lounge on the rocks, paddle in the shallows or pull on goggles, snorkel and fins. There are also rock pools along the cliff paths that beg to be explored. Periwinkles, starfish, sea anemones and tiny darting fish will enthral. Sea urchin spines in your feet won’t have quite the same effect … shoes are essential.
And then there are the beaches. Voelklip, Langbaai and Kammabaai…
On the white sand of Grotto beach you’ll find open white mussel shells that look like butterflies pausing for breath. Cone-shaped whelks patrol the moist border of the shoreline. Walk or horseride for miles along this beautiful stretch of mountain-lined coast, swim and boogie board or worship the sun from the open-air temple of your beach towel. Fly your kite or watch the mind-boggling skill of the kiteboarders on windy days. The Hermanus lagoon nestles at the end of this beach, a pleasure palace for yachters, windsurfers, fishermen, canoeists and rosy-cheeked toddlers and their proud parents. This is heaven for hermit crabs; watch them scuttle hesitantly beneath the sun-warmed
water. Float, splash, play and scour the sand around the lagoon for fragile
shell treasures.
PORTS OF CALL
TO STAY
Self-catering_
Nelshof Blue Beach House
37 Tenth Street
Voelklip
028 313 1683
Guest house
Auberge Provence
25 Westcliff Drive
028 312 1413
Hotel
The Marine
Marine Drive
028 313 1000
TO DRINK
Zebra Crossing
Main Road
028 312 3906
Shimmy
Harbour Road
028 312 4764
Gecko Bar
New Harbour
028 312 4665
The Sun Lounge
The Marine
028 313 1000
The Wine Village
www.wine-village.co.za
TO EAT
The Barefoot Cook
12 Aberdeen Street
028 312 4681
Burgundy Restaurant
16 Harbour Road
028 312 2800
The Rock Restaurant
New Harbour
028 312 2920
Quayside Cabin
Lower Slipway, New Harbour
028 313 0752
ART AND CULTURE
Fisherman’s Gallery
3 Harbour Road
028 313 2222
De Wet’s Huis Photo Museum
Market Square
028 313 0418
The Book Cottage
Harbour Road
028 313 0834
OUTSIDE
Flight of Giants
www.africanwings.co.za
Tandem paragliding
www.parapax.com
Horse Trail Safaris
www.horsetrailsafaris.co.za
Hermanus Golf Club
028 312 1954/5