there is a karoo town
a village of sort
where the illusions
of beer and milkshakes
turn out to be
too real
in the karoo motel
you will lose your soul
and become one
with the ghosts
that will always return
when the rain begins to fall
to get to the illusive milkshake karoo saloon
you have to get through the beautiful tradouw pass...
It was a big hit on television in South Africa. A random guy who braai-ed (BBQed) for a life (living) began a series on TV in which he travelled to all of the small towns in the country. One of these small towns was Barrydale, a small village or town bordering the Klein Karoo and the Overberg region. My grandparents did not live far from here, so we always made a small road trip to get some milkshakes — crazy milkshakes!
Recently, we took a trip down memory lane, as my grandparents are no longer with us. I showed my fiance what we always did...
Please join me as I take you on this virtual journey of a trip down memory lane!
Driving through the Magnificent Tradouw Pass
To get to Barrydale from the main road, you need to drive through the Tradouw Pass. This is a beautiful stretch of road snaking between a gorge which eventually ends up in the small town of Barrydale.
(NOTE: I did not know that Tradouw meant "the women's path", which is so interesting. But from the above photograph, you can see something interesting. This is a very old sign which still uses a racial slur which was scratched out along with the name of the person who built the pass. But enough politics, back to the beautiful views.)
When you park your car at the lookout point, you can see the beauty that unfolds in front of you. We came on a cold and overcast day, but this did not take away from the beauty.
Here is also a short video clip that I took from the lookout point:
If you walk across from the lookout point, you will see a cave, or what they call the "Drupkelder" or dripping cave. The water drips from above down below and the most beautiful plants grow there. The cave holds some significance for us, because the last time we travelled with my grandfather, my mother and he climbed up into it and took some photographs. We paid some respect to this place where our memories are now buried.
Let us not linger too long here! On towards Barrydale, where the craziest milkshakes can be found.
Barrydale: Crazy Milkshakes and Beautiful Views (And Some More Old Oddities)
As you drive toward the centre of the town, you are greeted with the most spectacular view, that is if you climb out of the car and look the other way round!
The street, moving back toward Tradouw Pass, looks as if it wants to drive into the mountain. I love the changing landscape as well, from lush fynbos to karoo desert in almost an instant. Barrydale is a small town or village that lay at the border between the Overberg region (Swellendam falls under this region) and the Klein Karoo region, a very dry and arid place where little rain falls.
As you enter the town, a long main road takes you to most of what there is to offer, but the first stop, the most important one, and the one made kind of famous by the television program which I mentioned earlier, is the Karoo Moon Motel, or Diesel and Cream!
This place is filled with old oddities, from broken cars and motorcycles to dentist chairs and old radios. As I mentioned so many times before, all of the older towns in South Africa have these old oddities worked into the decor of the town. Every shop has some sort of old thing presented as either decor, art, or as a product they sell.
The whole place is decorated with old cars, motorcycles, signs of gone-by eras, and some of the native plants that cover the mountains.
The inside of the restaurant is no different. Here you will find old chairs and tables, dentists' chairs and old radios, work benches, and strange things which others have thrown out. The restaurant has gone through some iterations throughout the years, and even the milkshakes has changed quite drastically!
Crazy Milkshakes
Throughout the years, the crazy milkshakes got smaller and less crazy. But they are still crazy compared to what you usually get. For example, I had a whole piece or slice of lemon meringue pie in my milkshake, and the others had similar indulgences in theirs. Beware, do not order food with these, they are so rich and excessive even in their smaller versions that you will not eat (or regret ordering) your food!
The Rest of Town
Afterwards, we walked a bit through the rest of the town. Like so many of these smaller South African towns or villages, they are mostly geared toward foreign money and visitors. But the town still has its charm and beauty, especially being at the foot of the mountain.
Ending the Trip With A Whacky Brewery Visit
Why would a brewery be whacky? Have you ever visited a brewery where the head brewer makes your pizza and one of the patrons does shiatsu massages on the waiter? Where the plates are made by a local artist who sits next door? All of this was available at the local brewery, The Maker's Brew.
They had a couple of beers on tap, and the brewer is apparently a well-known beer writer, having published a kind of brewer's bible in South Africa. We felt honoured to have his beer, and we ended up adding a pizza to the mix as well! I think it was sourdough pizza, so well done for the brewer to experiment with different fermentations!
The shiatsu in living form... Have you ever been to a brewery with a massage parlour in the main area?
And then the pottery place next door. The artist produces some really nice work, and if I could, I would buy some of her work. It is seriously beautiful and would have been perfect for a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
And then we had some beers. Like always, my fiance wanted to take the tasting menu, and I stuck with some of the heavier stuff.
They had a nice porter on show, which is a rare find in South Africa, as most breweries stick with either Stouts or other heavier beers.
But I enjoyed the porter, and unfortunately, they could not sell their bottles because it was a Sunday. This was odd and strange, as we don't have any laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sundays, unless this was some local by-law...
Postscriptum, or Another Adventure With Good Memories
And so yet another journey comes to an end. We made some good memories, as always, and we ended up thinking back to the journeys we had with my grandparents. I am lucky and blessed to have these memories and now these new ones with my fiance.
For now, happy travelling and keep well.
All of the writing and musings are my own, albeit inspired by overindulging in milkshakes and beer. The photographs and video are my own, taken with either my Nikon D300 or iPhone.
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Thank you so much!
Small towns not so hidden as they once were, how lucky you were to have grandparents reside their now treasured memories.
Both Andrew and Thomas Bain have great history engineering roads in the Western Cape. Passes and roads to enjoy, now thinking back to what it possibly looked like back then with travel.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 55/75) Liquid rewards.
I always do exactly that, think about how things must have looked like when none of the established cities and roads were there. I saw in an old book of the 1980s or so, a photograph of modern Somerset West, and let me tell you, there was nothing there! Now, there is almost nothing "green" left, with so many areas developed.
We have a talent for photography here!
very good!
!BBH
Oh, thank you so much! I really appreciate this. Keep well, and thanks for the visit!
@fermentedphil! @crazyphantombr likes your content! so I just sent 1 BBH to your account on behalf of @crazyphantombr. (2/5)
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First of all your photos are amazing looks like a review by the way the Trudow pass looks like having many interesting natural sites and view, Barry dale remind me in some way some movies American remote towns, the milkshakes are super crazy 😍
Thank you so much for taking the visit with me! For sure, a lot of the smaller towns look exactly like that! Thanks for the reminder. And I wish I could share some of the milkshakes over the internet! Maybe in the future haha.
Hiya, @lauramica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2301.
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Thank you so much @lauramica, I really appreciate it!
You are welcome @fermentedphil.
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