Yet Another Mundane Holiday ...
Trip Start
Dec 17, 2007
1
22
26
Trip End
Jan 19, 2008
Cape Town,
South Africa
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sarah, Christina and I rented a car the next day and took a trip to Cape Point via Simonstown and Constantia ...
AS we drive through teh leafy suburbs of Constantia I can't help but wonder how wierd it all looks ... how un-African ... we visit two of my favoritre vineyard - Groot and Klein Constantia for sampling of one of my favoritre wines ... these vineyards stand on the site of the original vineyard of South Africa ... started by the Governer of the Cape - Simon Van Der Stel ... they a resplendant in their architectural decandance and beautiful setting that is the slopes of Constantia ... all the time surround by Table mountain and its 12 apostles ... we sample some fine wines and sit in the sun taking it all in ... (indeed as I write this now on the 29th March 2 months later, it is fitting I am sipping on a very nice Pinotage I bought that day at Groot Constantia) ...
We stop for Fish and Chips at a cafe in the Naval town of Simonstown ... it is a welcome simple meal which includes mushy peas served by a charming lady in a simple place ... after which we head for Cape Point national park and down to the tip of Cape Town (and not Africa as many sailors were fooled into believing in the past ... hend the bay - False Bay) ... it is another stunning and rugged national park ending in a lighthouse high on a rocky cliff face ... where you feel like you are at the end of Africa even if it really is is Cape Aghulas 100KM East of here ...
As we take the coast road bakc toward the city the drive holds yet another wonder for us ... for me the last great wonder of the trip, but every bit the astounding inspirationsal beauty that the rest of the trip held ... the Cape Doctor is blowing strongly from off the sea ... lifting the water into a mist that crawl along the suface of the water in meandering lines of a vast scale ... it is truely a breath taking sight ... the giant waves are crashing onto the shore and the wind lifts the sand so that the road is completely covered in it in some places ... the coast line itself is rugged and beautiful as the rusty red brown mountains rise high up above the water with their crowns of cloud capping off the beauty of this perfect place ... the road, a seeming perilous cliff top drive, is carved into the mountain like a scar as it meaners its way towards Hout Bay, the 12 Apostles, Camps Bay, Llandudno, Camps Bay, Bantry Bay, Seapoint and finally Cape Town's city bowl ... As if this is not enough the sun is sinking into the sea casting ever changing yellow, orange, red hues of light onto this wonderful scene ... taking your very last breath away as if it were the end of some spectacular movie ... you can but sit and wonder at it all ...
Later that evening we meet for one last meal with Sarah, Christina, Hiske, Tessa, Nadia and I ... we eat Sushi and head to a strange bar called Cabana ... it really freaks me out to the point that I have to leave ... our group of 13 is now 6 ... and I forget to say my final farewell to Hiske and Tessa in the rush to get out of the pub ... which is the original scene fro Scary Monstors and Super Creeps ...
