Strandloper Ocean Boutique Hotel, Paternoster

Paternoster is a little fishing village of whitewashed cottages on the west coast, and thanks to its proximity to Cape Town (two hours’ drive away) is a favourite weekend getaway spot for Capetonians. Strandloper Ocean Boutique Hotel has 16 rooms, in pale natural shades and materials. Ocean Suites have views of the Atlantic surf rolling onto Paternoster’s white-sand beach, where fishing boats offload the catch of the day.

Aa three hour drive to Paternoster, very scenic to start with that then through a large plain of wheat growing. We found the hotel with no problems and we were greeted with a glass of bubbles and some very tasty snacks. Our room was absolutely splendid with its own terrace overlooking the sea and a really superb sitting area and bathroom. We made ourselves at home and then went for a 30 to 40 minute walk towards town along the beach. Then back for a swim, but although the pool was supposedly heated, it seemed quite chilly as the sun had disappeared from it.

We went in for dinner at 7:30 and this was an up-and-down affair with problems over the table allocation and then over portion size. I ordered a starter size portion of risotto as a main: it looked rather like mince drowning in a deep tomato sauce, though the prawns in fact were very tasty. But it was not a risotto in the form that I expect a risotto to be! This was all compounded by the waitress who kept asking or stating that everything was good or great! David had a fish curry and then and Amarulla Crème Brûlée which was absolutely excellent. Back in the room we found that we had hot water bottles even though it was not too cold and we had twice been asked if we wanted a fire lit. We had a coffee and a gorgeous truffle and then settled down for the night.


Reception was in fact a bit difficult to find	..but once we found it, they presented with a marvelous ..	..welcome ray and sparking wine	Our room was enormous ..

		All the hotels we stayed at had a bath, unusual in Europe today	Our terrace looked out over the beach

	A glass of fresh OJ	and a big breakfast	The boys have never seen such a big bean bag

The pool looked nice ..	..but Chris did not give it top marks	A nice dining room ..	..overlooked the beach

There were two long sandy beaches	The hotel was positioned between these beaches	So we walked both into town ..	and away from town

A very leisurely day with Chris not feeling 100% for much of it. We had a very nice breakfast around nine and then went out for a walk around 11 am towards the Waterfront area in town but Chris was too exhausted to continue the extra 700 m that was required, having already walked well over a kilometre and then we would have to return as well. We reached a place where there was loud music and it was maybe a fish market on certain days or just a market. We walked back through the houses, rather than along the beach. Chris found this more interesting than the beach. David worked out that we had last been in Paternoster in 2015 when we spent a week touring around before getting on the Silver Explorer up the West Coast of Africa.

Once back at the room Chris had a siesta and eventually roused herself enough to go for a quick swim, but it was cold again and very windy. We then had a snack lunch out on the terrace. At 5 pm we went for another walk along the beach in the opposite direction, spending about 40 minutes doing this: it was quite cold and windy on the return journey. At 6 pm we had some Amaretto with ice from coffee cups that we have put in the freezer of the fridge. Then dinner at 7 pm and Chris managed to eat her small salad this time and we enjoyed an Amarulla crème brûlée between us. Back in the room we got them to light the fire and this was very pleasant, and we also watched television and saw that Orban seemed to have been well defeated in Hungarian elections

We had a later breakfast than normal and then packed up and vacated the room by 11 am. After that we stayed on at this hotel, so that we did not arrive too early to check in at the next one. We sat on the terrace near the restaurant for an hour reading.