Maria van Riebeeck (De la Quellerie)For those of you that know or go into a little history the story of Maria might be of interest.
As you drive into the very spectacular Croydon Vineyard Estate you eyes are drawn straight toward the world famous Table Mountain.
The view you see is very different from the normal view we see in adverts taken from the Blouberg side!
The side you see from the estate was once called Maria de la Quellerie sleeping.
So how does it work? If you look at the photo of the sunset over Table Mountain you will see the sleeping Maria with her head on the right, you can see her hair to the far right! Then you can see her nose, mouth and neck as it goes onto her body with her hands folded on top of her body. All under a blanket! Then it goes on to the feet at the left end of her body.
I also included a few links to some information as a few things were named after her. Follow the links below to get more detail.
Maria van Riebeeck (28 October 1629, Rotterdam - 2 November 1664, Malacca) was the wife of Jan van Riebeeck, the Dutch colonial administrator and first commander of the settlement at the Cape.
She was born Maria de la Quellerie, daughter of Abraham de la Quellerie (1589-1630) and Maria du Bois (1593-?) of France. She married Van Riebeeck on 28 March 1649 in Schiedam, The Netherlands. The couple had eight children, of whom most died young.
She died in Malacca, Malaysia on 2 November 1664 at the age of 35. The South African Navy submarine, the SAS Maria van Riebeeck, was named after her. wikipedia.com
So next time you drive into the estate and your focus is drawnto this world famous landmark, look out for the shape of Maria sleeping peacefully.
This must be one of the very spectacular sides of the mountain and one that is often overlooked. We here at Croydon Vineyard Estate are proud to wake up to that view and our boutique wines are grown under her watch full eye. Maybe that is why our estate is so spectacular and our wines world class. Under the careful hand of Beyers Truter and the “lady” keeping a close eye on things.
If you want more information on the estate please email the estate agent at Gerhard@seeff.com or phone me on 076 590 7758
The photos was taken during the past week showing some of the spectacular sunsets here at the Estate.
Provided by Gerhard van Deventer (Seeff Agent)
