Climate and Geography
Stellenbosch is located just 55 km (34 mi) to the east of Cape Town. Stellenbosch is in a hilly region of the Cape Winelands and is sheltered in a valley at an average elevation of 136m, flanked on the west by Papegaaiberg (Afrikaans: Parrot Mountain), actually a hill. The south and east are high mountains, with Stellenbosch Mountain to the south, and Simonsberg (Afrikaans:Simon's Mountain), Jonkershoek Mountains and Great Drakenstein Mountains to the east and south-east. Die Tweeling Pieke (1,494m) (Afrikaans: The Twin Peaks) is a signature peak of the Stellenbosch region, the highest being Victoria Peak (1,590m).
The soils are dark alluvial to clay soils and combined with the well-drained, hilly terrain and Mediterranean climate prove ideal for viticulture. Summers are dry and warm to hot, with some February and March days rising to over 40 °C (104 °F). Winters are cool, rainy and sometimes quite windy, with daytime temperatures averaging 16 °C (61 °F). Snow is usually seen a couple of times in winter on the surrounding mountains. Spring and autumn are shoulder seasons and daytime temperatures hover in the 20°C's.
Read more about this topic: Stellenbosch
Famous quotes containing the words climate and/or geography:
“The question of place and climate is most closely related to the question of nutrition. Nobody is free to live everywhere; and whoever has to solve great problems that challenge all his strength actually has a very restricted choice in this matter. The influence of climate on our metabolism, its retardation, its acceleration, goes so far that a mistaken choice of place and climate can not only estrange a man from his task but can actually keep it from him: he never gets to see it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)