Durban - Cape Town - Heathrow - Newcastle

So Cape Town is, quite simply, beautiful.  It is full of warm, friendly people and dominated by a backdrop of majestic mountains.  It has a multiculturalism, grace and charm.  My brother and his family live in a gorgeous house (in a street called Pleasant Place) in the southern suburb of Pinelands.


 The layout of Pinelands was the first attempt at a town-planned area in South Africa. It was originally a Victorian farm named Uitvlugt that had thousands of pine trees planted in it and many of those pine trees are still there - the most amusing and wonderful aspect of them is how most of them grow at a distinct angle as they have been buffeted by the wind!

Mom and I were staying in a guest house just about across the road from Anton and Julie's house, and mom is staying there (hopefully) through to the end of March until she can move into her new (how exciting!) house.  The guest house has got a big bedroom with chairs and a telly as well as a separate kitchen area and a small bathroom just off that.  It is ideal really, because Mom is close to family (and also to all her plants in their garden!!) but still has her own space to retreat to!


I'm not going to go into the dreary job of house hunting.  We saw lots of houses in Pinelands and Rondebosch.  Mom liked some, hated others and loved the one that we put in an offer on.  I cannot tell you what a weight it took off me that by the time I left, we had found a house.  It took a few days after that for the negotiations to be complete, but it is sorted.  Hurrah!

Front aspect

Back garden with small plunge pool

Kitchen

  
So having found a house we were free to enjoy a bit of sightseeing :-)
Julie had been doing a bit of research into the Malan family and had found out loads of interesting about our ancestry.  It turns out that all the South African Malans are descended from one Jacques Malan who came to South Africa in 1688 as a teenager.


 "The early history of the Malans is one of severe persecution and suffering because of their faith. The Malans originated in the valleys of Piedmont in the north-western region of the present Italy. According to a very old tradition the Gospel was brought to the inhabitants of Piedmont by St. Paul when he visited the area on his way to Spain. The Malans described themselves as Original Christians. They never accepted the authority of the Pope and were later, together with other believers, known as Vaudois or Waldenses. The name Malan was an abusive nickname given to these “heretics” by the followers of Rome. During the course of time this abusive name was accepted as an honorary title by the Malans.




Apparently ‘Les Malan de Mérindol,’ the branch of the family from which the South African and English Malans originate, fled to Mérindol on the Durance in Provence (Southern France) during the Great Persecution of 1112. The Malans became wealthy and were well known in Mérindol. The part of the town inhabited by them was known as ‘Quartier des MalanSince 1177 the Malans and other evangelical believers were referred to as Waldenses after Peter Waldo (Valdes or Vaudes), a merchant of Lyon who started a movement of lay preachers to proclaim the true gospel. The Waldenses were banned in 1184 by Pope Lucius but continued with their preaching. In 1215 an edict was issued against them whereby they had to be taken prisoner and their possessions confiscated…




In 1309, Pope Clement ordered attacks on the Waldenses in which many of their houses and villages were burnt down. The surviving Waldenses fled to the mountains. Laurent Malan, his wife and child, took shelter between steep cliffs of the Taillant where they were discovered by the soldiers. When they refused to deny their faith they were thrown down the cliff and fell to their death… Between 1380 and 1392, the pope condemned 230 Waldenses to the stake because of heresy. In 1440, Caesar Sigismund led a campaign against the Waldenses. Barthelemeni Malan was stabbed to death after he was captured and found praying. In his dying moments he confessed the name of the Lord Jesus…


After the Reformation, Protestant preachers such as Guillaume Farrell convinced the Waldenses that there were many similarities between their teachings and those of Luther and Calvin. Consequently, the Waldenses of France decided to join the Reformed Church in 1532. The printing of the first Protestant Bible in French was financed by the Waldenses of Provence.


The Waldenses did not live in peace for very long. In 1534 the parliament of Provence ordered them to give up their faith or leave the land. Natural disasters such as the flooding of the Durance, hail and failures of crops were ascribed to the beliefs of the Waldenses. After there had been no reaction to this order, the Decree of Mérindol was issued in 1540, which ordered the burning of 19 inhabitants of Mérindol at the stake, while the whole town was to be burnt and razed to the ground. This Decree was implemented in 1545, resulting in the destruction of 22 villages by 4000 soldiers. The majority of the Waldenses fled to their fellow believers in Piedmont but later returned to Provence. By 1560 Mérindol was again a Protestant stronghold.


The persecution in France flared up more vigorously against the Waldenses and was later extended to include all French Protestants, who became known as Huguenots. The Malans were part of the Huguenots, who suffered bloody persecution under the Roman Catholic Church – particularly after Louis XIV became king of France in 1661. Between 1681 and 1720, about 200 000 Huguenots fled from France – many of them to the Netherlands. Among them was also Jacques Malan, the progenitor of the South African Malans.”


Jacques was among a selected group of French Huguenots who were sent to the Dutch controlled colony in the Cape in 1688 – mainly as farmers to supply fresh produce to ships on their way to the East."


So anyway, history lesson over... Julie had arranged for us to spend the night in a guest house on the wine farm Bo le Motte, in Franschoek, which was the land that was originally granted to Jacques Malan.  It was a wonderful trip and the cottage was beautiful, set amidst some stunning scenery.

My little cutie nephew, James

 Outside our accommodation, Orchard Cottage - surrounded by fruit trees

At the Hugenot Memorial

Mom and I got some shopping in and did a bit of motoring about, but not a whole heap of sightseeing.  We decided that it would be a good thing to buy a sat nav so that she would be able to find her way around easily, and she adapted very well to her TomTom and seemed fairly comfortable with it.  So that was very good.  Other than that I got to soak up some glorious sunshine and spend time with my gorgeous nephew who has a very amusing fascination with hair.  He sort of nests with it, twirling his own hair, (or any on offer!)  especially when he is tired and ready for bed.  I also got to spend some time with my lovely sister in law, who I had never really had the chance to get to know before.  Needless to say the night that we signed the offer on the house there was some drinking going on (we also had a visit from an old friend of mine, Andre) and Julie and I ended up talking away until about 2 in the morning, long after Andre had gone and mom and Anton had gone to bed.  I did not feel very good the next morning and had to go back to sleep for a couple of hours after inadvisably leaping out of bed at 7:30 and going in the shower!!  I did feel very fragile, but it was so nice to have had a chance to gossip and trade stories with Julie.

Wednesday the 26th was my Mom's birthday, which was a fairly low key affair.  Anton, Mom and I went to an eco cafe for lunch which was lovelyy, and largely dominated by talk of the house, and all the possible outcomes.  It was also the day I left Cape Town to return to my wonderful husband and beautiful boys, so it was a day of mixed emotions.

I did just love Cape Town, and even asked Steve what he would think about moving there!  It's a bit European and a lot South African.  It felt like somewhere I could live, and I thought how much my sons would love the different way of life they would have there.