Cape Town at last...
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2006
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11
100
Trip End
Dec 11, 2006
Cape Town, South Africa
Saturday, March 11, 2006
As we trundled into Cape Town on the Saturday morning the sun was shining and we had a great view of Table Mountain and the city spread out beneath. Although finding somewhere to stay had proved a bit tricky - we were arriving on the same weekend as Cape Town was hosting the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour (billed as the world's largest timed cycle race with over 35,000 people taking part) - we eventually found what looked like a lovely B&B, Rose Lodge, near to the one of the most up and coming areas of town - De Waterkant.
Having arrived we were made to feel very welcome by our host Bruce (a Canadian who had arrived in Cape Town by way of Germany) and his two dogs, Coco and Teddy - having met them dog-lover Fiona immediately declared that Rose Lodge was the perfect place for us to stay
Atlantic View 1
. With our bags in our room we headed out into town for an initial stroll and a look around before the Super 14 game we'd booked tickets for that evening. Rose Lodge was only a 5 minute walk from the main downtown area, Long Street, so we took in the sights before everything shut for the day - rather quaintly all the shops in town shut at about 1pm on Saturday. Taking closing time as our cue for a break we had a tasty lunch at Mr Pickwick's deli (it is perhaps best known for its smoothies - the banana, hazlenut and Bacardi one has a real kick...) before wandering back to the B&B. On Bruce's advice we had held onto the car an extra day so that we could drive to the rugby as Newlands stadium is in Cape Town's suburbs - it took us a good 20 minutes to drive there and although there is a train most people don't seem to use public transport outside of rush hour on safety grounds.The rugby was great but very different from the British rugby I've seen, much quicker and more exciting but with quite poor refereeing (the home team, the Stormers, also managed to lose the game in the last 3 minutes but we'll gloss over that bit). Interestingly, rugby on a Saturday night is obviously the place to come if you are under 18 and looking to meet the opposite sex. The section under where we were sitting was full of teens dressed to the nines parading in front of each other - you could almost smell the hormones in the air
Atlantic View 2
! Special mention must also go to the 50ish identical male twins we sat next to in the stadium - the music to Deliverance started twanging in my head as soon as we saw them...The rest of the weekend passed by quite quickly, mainly due to the two bottles of wine we sank at lunch on Sunday. It was actually Bruce's fault as he had taken us for a walk around the local area and recommended a nice Italian restaurant in the renovated Cape Quarter area where you could sit outside. Well, it would have been rude not to have had lunch in the restaurant after it had been recommended to us, and I defy anyone not to end up ordering more wine than they should when the sun is shining, the wine is cheap and delicious and more importantly you don't have to get up for work in the morning!
Over the next few days we strolled around town some more soaking up the sun and the atmosphere. We explored more of Long Street now that it was open and had burgers at Royale (an absolute must if you are in Cape Town - get there early to bag one of the tables in the window so you can watch the world go by). We also visited the Waterfront area which is lovely if a bit touristy - there is not that much to do apart from shop and eat, which we did of course in a very nice place overlooking the water
Atlantic View 3
.During our visit to the Waterfront we booked tickets for Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and all of the other male black and coloured prisoners from the apartheid era were held (the women and white prisoners were held on the mainland). The trip turned out to be a truly fascinating and humbling experience. You are taken over from the Waterfront to the island by boat and once on the island you are taken around by one of the ex-prisoners who explained what life was really like inside the prison. We visited the cells, including the cell of Nelson Mandela and those of the other ANC leaders, as well as the dining rooms, bathrooms, exercise yards and gardens that all of the prisoners used. We also learnt how the authorities attempted to segregate and divide the prisoners and the ingenious ways the prisoners would ensure that everyone received an equal share of what was on offer, be that food, news or education. For example, Nelson Mandela had lobbied the authorities to be allowed to plant a garden in one of the yards to provide a source of work and respite for the prisoners. His request was granted but what Nelson Mandela had not told the authorities was that the garden would also be used as a storage area for banned items - they would be dug up when needed and then reburied to ensure they weren't confiscated when the guards carried out their periodic cell searches.
Atlantic View 4
The day after visiting Robben Island we had a fantastic day at the cricket. The Aussies were in town and after the incredible end to the ODI series we were expecting great things on the first day of the first test. We were joined at the cricket by Jocelyn, a friend of Tiff's (we would be staying with Tiff during our second week in town) who was also in town visiting friends and relatives. We came armed with a picnic and spent a great day sitting on the grass with the locals listening to them "gently" question, amongst other things, the Aussie team's masculinity and cricketing ability. Unfortunately, the entertainment off the pitch was not matched by South African dominance on it as the home team struggled to 205 all out having been 104/6 at one point. Despite this we had a fab time and by the end of the day we'd watched a lot of cricket, eaten most of the food and made quite a few trips to the beer stand...
After the cricket we said goodbye to Bruce, Teddy and Coco and headed down the coast slightly to Sea Point and Tiff's flat. A plug here for Bruce - if you are thinking of going to Cape Town then have a look at Bruce's website, he is a fabulous host and Rose Lodge is excellent value for money. We were a bit concerned about staying with Tiff as she already had Joss staying with her and thought that our arriving would mean there wouldn't be room to swing a cat. The one thing we didn't bargain on though was Tiff having the biggest flat in the Southern Hemisphere - it was huge with an amazing view out over the ocean! Our fears allayed we relaxed and enjoyed Tiff's excellent hospitality. On our first evening we all met up with Tiff's friends, Jacqui and Eric and Laurie (who arrived on Eric's severely loud and fresh out of the showroom Harley Davidson) and had a picnic on the beach at Camps Bay under the Twelve Apostles
Camps Bay
. The sunset was beautiful, the company was excellent and we had lots to eat and drink - a really lovely evening.The following day was Saturday and Fiona and I just kicked back in Tiff's flat while she and Joss went out for the day. It was really great to do nothing all day and just eat beans on toast. In the evening we went out on a sunset cruise with Tiff and Joss and saw our first whale! It was out of season for whales but there was no denying what it was once we saw the tail break the water and splash back down again. We were both really thrilled to see the whale - I'd assumed that we wouldn't see one at all given the time of year. After the cruise we headed back to Tiff's and had a traditional braai on her balcony - another lovely end to another really great day.
Sunday saw us visit Cape Town's Sunday market at Green Point and then head out to Hout Bay to the craft market. It felt like we were back in London strolling around Columbia Road and Spitalfields (except with more sun of course!). We were joined at lunch again by Tiff's friends and had another great time - you know, sun, good food and wine, great company, blah, blah, blah... Unfortunately Joss had to head back to the UK that evening but we would be staying on at Tiff's for another night
Cape Point 1
. It being Monday Tiff had to work but she was ridiculously generous and lent us her car for the day! This meant we could visit Cape Point, so after dropping Tiff off at work we headed out down the coast. The sun was shining (of course!) so it was a beautiful drive along the scenic Chapmans Peak route to the Cape. Once at the Cape we climbed up to the lighthouse overlooking the point and took in the fabulous views - hopefully you can see some of them in the pictures accompanying this entry. After the Point we headed to Kalk Bay to visit the Harbour House restaurant. Our Time Out guide reckoned this was one of two places to have seafood in and around Cape Town and we were not disappointed. Our table was next to the window overlooking the harbour and we had crayfish which was fresh off the boat that morning - melt in the mouth fantastic. If you come to Cape Town it is well worth hunting out Harbour House, the food really is that good. After lunch we wandered around the harbour watching the seals playing in the water and the women gutting the fish off the boats. We then ambled back into town by way of Constantia and the very picturesque vineyards, naturally we stopped to buy a couple of bottles - it would have been rude not to!
All too soon, however, it was time to leave Tiff's
Cape Point 2
. We'd booked ourselves into a swish guesthouse in Camps Bay called Atlantic View with the idea was that this would be a treat after staying in cheaper places along the Garden Route and in Cape Town. Unfortunately, we had been completely spoiled by staying at Tiff's so Atlantic View wasn't quite as special as it should have been. Anyway, it was still a lovely place to stay and we especially enjoyed the free sundowners and canapes in the lounge or on the terrace overlooking the sea and the sunset.While we were staying at Atlantic View we also had an abortive attempt to get to the top of Table Mountain. During the days preceding our move from Tiff's and the first two at Atlantic View, the wind had been very strong meaning that the cable car up the mountain wasn't working and it would have been very unpleasant at the top (it also meant we couldn't use the pool at the Atlantic View which was also a bummer). However, on our last day in town the wind dropped so we decided to walk up to the cable car. It took us about an hour and a half to get there (we'll skip over losing the path right at the end and scrambling through burnt brush and blackened sand...) but when we arrived it appeared that every other tourist in Cape Town had had the same idea and the queue was huge. We estimated that it would have taken us about another hour to get to the front of the queue and neither of us felt like baking (or burning if you're Fiona) in the sun for the privilege
Cape Point 3
. I'd also stupidly forgotten my camera so any pictures would have been courtesy of an instant Kodak. We therefore decided to skip the mountain and retreat into town for restorative beers and milkshakes at Mr Pickwick's.For our final night in Cape Town we took Tiff out to Ginga, one of Cape Town's top restaurants and another one to try if you are in town, to say thank you for being a star and letting us stay. It was a lovely way to end our time in Cape Town - the food was excellent as was the wine (great choices by Tiff) and our waiter was very hunky (or so I was told) which kept 2/3 of the table happy at least. After saying goodbye to Tiff our African trip was almost over - only a brief stopover in Jo'burg would be left before we began the Asian leg in Hong Kong.
Comments
Raining? i think not....
Hi, i don't have time to read all these new entries at the moment but i look forward to saving it for next week when i'm trying to avoid studying! just wanted to say however that it isn't raining in Stirling - the sun is shining and its absolutely roasting so HA! glad you've updated the travelpod though, was beginning to wonder if you ever would again! enjoy x x x