Elephant Corner turned French

Franschhoek, the 'French corner' of South Africa, is cleverly capitalizing on its French heritage of excellent wines and a culinary tradition which is regarded as one of the best in the world. Many of the wine estates, guesthouses, restaurants and shops have names which sound as elegant and appealing as French names invariably do, and some of them proudly display French colours. A first-time vi-sitor may indeed feel transported to a pretty little town somewhere in France.

Come July and Franschhoek is gearing up to its 'Frenchest' form. During the weekend closest to France's national holiday, Bastille Day on 14 July, Franschhoek celebrates a Bastille Festival. Franschhoek is always beautiful and a great place to visit - and yes, there is more to it than the lively Main Road with its speciality shops, art galleries, antique dealers, cafés and restaurants - but going there for the Bastille Festival is simply fun. The entire Main Road is decked out in red, white and blue, just about everyone in the vibrant little town wears a red or blue beret and seems to be involved in the festivities. A 'French atmosphere' is also created by groups of people playing boules in unlikely places, a chefs' and waiters' race, street soccer, a fly-fishing competition and above all a wine barrel rolling competition which attracts scores of spectators. Teams from the various wine estates compete against each other on a short course lined with bales of straw. In pairs of two the participants do their best to manoeuvre their unco-operative barrel to the finishing line as straight and fast as possible, but much to the onlookers' delight barrels seem to have a mind of their own.
The wine estates provide another big attraction: a procession of decorated floats, led by local drum majorettes, slowly makes its way through the main street - and back again for good mea-sure. The South African clubs of French car manufacturers Peugeot and Citroën also join in the fun and games with a motorcade of older vehicles flying French flags and red and blue balloons while parading up and down Main Road to the cheers of onlookers.

Eat, drink and be merry! This is the essence of the festival, and there is plenty of opportunity to sample great wines paired with gourmet food dished up by Franschhoek's famous chefs. Franschhoek Valley boasts no less than 45 active wineries, among them household names like old-established Boschendal or Bellingham, but also less well-known ones like Lynx. Many of the most innovative and progressive produ-cers in the country are in fact found among Franschhoek's wine farms. And as if barrels and barrels of excellent wines weren't enough, this little town has good reason to call itself South Africa's Gourmet Capital. Among its 36 restaurants are eight which have made it into the country's top 100, and four of the country's five-star chefs choose to work their magic in Franschhoek.
What is the origin of Franschhoek's French connection? The beautiful valley between towering mountains, which wear white caps of snow in the middle of winter, were inhabited by Khoikhoi tribes until pieces of land were allocated to Dutch free-burghers as early as 1687. Two years before, Protestantism had been banned in France and soon afterwards the first groups of French Calvinists, or Huguenots, arrived at the Cape. They were also granted land in the Franschhoek Valley - then known as Olifantshoek (Elephant Corner) because at that time large herds of elephants roamed the area - between the tracts of land given to the free-burghers. These early French settlers introduced viticulture to the valley, which soon was called Franschhoek, the French Corner. They were not allowed to teach French at school, however, and within forty years the language had almost disappeared. Only the surnames - like du Toit, Malherbe, Malan, Labuschagne, de Villiers or Cronjé - have outlasted more than three centuries.

This background combined with the origin of Bastille Day in France and the fact that Nelson Mandela was released from nearby Drakenstein Prison in 1990 also provide a more solemn angle to the festival in Franschhoek - man's pursuit of freedom. In celebration of Mandela's memorable release a Long Walk from Drakenstein Prison to the Huguenot Monument at the end of Franschhoek's Main Road has become part of the annual festival.

Christina Rockstroh