Travel Ideas and Advice for the Novice Traveller

I recently had the privilege to visit the town of Stellenbosch , in the Western Cape province of South Africa. This town is in, what is called the Cape Winelands and is surrounded by beautiful wine estates and many mountains, reminding one of the Alps, in Switzerland. Stellenbosch, was founded by the Dutch in 1679 (just a couple of years after the Dutch founded New York!). I will report at a later stage about the things to do in the town, but today I am going to show you some of the beautiful scenery found in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. I had the opportunity to go and walk in the reserve and I am not exaggerating when I say that the scenery was breathtaking and the plant life resembling a garden of Eden. Mountains around Stellenbosch If you are interested in visiting the town and you are in need of accommodation, then you can either look for hotels in Stellenbosch , or stay in Cape Town which is only about 35 kilometers from Stellenbosch .

If you are going to backpack in Europe, then there is a good chance that you will have to travel through Switzerland. One of the best cities to stay in Switzerland is Geneva. I visited this city a couple of years ago, just as the city was in the full throws of the Festival for the Animals("Fete des Animaux"), to collect money for the local SPCA. We had an an absolute surreal experience in this very influential European city. The weather was beautiful and we were treated to the most fantastic animal displays on the lake. It really made us miss our pets at home. There were a lot of life saving demonstrations with huge black dogs, bringing guys "drowning" to safety on the shore. We were also treated to parades around the lake by various groups, which looked to be representing the various Cantons of Switzerland. Every year there are various festivals in Geneva, with the most famous one, the  Fêtes de Genève  . So you might say, OK, all good and well to