Cape Town

So many people we met along the way told us how great Cape Town is, and how much we were going to love it. Especially the locals. They are so proud of this city. Us not being the big-city type of people were of course sceptical and took the advice in stride. We have spent the last three days in Cape Town and the surrounding area and can see how people fall in love with the place. The Cape point is some truly stunning, dramatic coastline and the city of Cape Town itself has a pretty amazing setting. Table Mountain looms in the background..... an awesome sight. The city reminds us of a bit of a cross between Portland and Seattle...not as big as Seattle, but has the same waterfront feel.

From Hermanus, we took the scenic route along the coast towards Cape Town. Beautiful coastline. It was a sunny Sunday, so the weekend warriors were out in hoards. We stopped in Muizenberg where we were lured in by the bustling market and fresh fish being sold on the street. It happened to be one of the more popular beaches along this False Bay route, and the parking lot was jam packed. We weren't moving anywhere, trying to find a place to park and started noticing lots of ambulances, police and even a helicoptor. We finally wormed ourselves in and asked what was going on. Answer? Shark attack! No kidding. A guy had just gotten his foot chomped off by a great white cruising in the bay. The irony of it is that the guy is a lifeguard and was out with his co-workers on a training exercise. We joined the gawkers and watched as he was loaded into the helicopter and flown away to Cape Town. Needless to say the beaches were closed for the rest of the day.

Some of the scenery we saw along the False Bay route to Cape Town:

From there we moved on south towards the point, pausing only to gaze at another whale right offshore for a while. We stopped outside of Simon's Town and walked around Boulders Beach. A beach wth lots of rounded granite boulders, bright white sand,turquoise water, and penguins. Lots of penguins! There is a huge colony of African Penguins living here that are now protected by the national parks. So we walked around and laughed at the cute creatures as they clumsily walk around.

Some of the penguins just coming in from a fishing expedition:


It was late enough in the day that it wouldn't be worth the trip all the way out to the point, so we found a campground close by and set up home for the night.

Here is a look at a typical meal and typical setting around camp:


The next day, guess what? We woke up to gale force winds (not quite) and lots of rain. Not going to be able to always have perfect weather, so we headed out to the Cape Point anyway. The Point is the most south-westerly point on the continent of Africa (not the same ring as the southern most point, is it?). The whole point is a national park with an array of hiking trails, a lighthouse and lots of great views. We donned our ponchos (turned out to be a great purchase we made way back in Laos!) and did the walk from the lighthouse to the Point and then walked around the lighthouse a bit. Really stunning views, even on a cloudy, rainy day.

On the way to the Cape of Good Hope and the south-western point of Africa.

And the southwesterly tip.


We headed straight north after that and after a bit of confusion with the roads, made our way to Sea Point which is a suburb of Cape Town just south of the city center. We checked into what was for us a deluxe backpackers (a whole small apartment all to ourselves!) and relaxed. Table Mountain is probably the most famous landmark in Cape Town, if not in the whole of South Africa. So of course, we had to climb it. You can take a cable car to the top, but given the amount of really big and tasty meals we've been having, we thought it better to walk. The mountain is famous for its "tablecloth" that usually covers the top, and the table was for sure set on the day we walked up. We had mostly fog-filled views from the top, but did get some breaks, and they were spectacular. The walk up was a bit of a calf-burner on the way up and knee-killer on the way down, but fun nevertheless. After that, we walked the streets of downtown a bit and took in one museum - the District Six museum that tells the story of the once vibrant community that was "relocated" during apartheid (i.e., the neighborhood was declared "White" and all the residents were forcibly removed to outlying areas and their homes razed). So sad.

View from the top of Table Mountain - looking West:


Yesterday, we took the ferry out to Robbin Island and did the tour of the prison. This was the prison where the political prisoners of the apartheid era (including Nelson Mandela) were held. The tour was very much a standard tourist tour, with the exception that the tour guide was a former prisoner, having spent 20 years on Robben Island in the same cell block as Nelson Mandela. That made the tour both very informative and personal. We caught a movie after that, "Thank You for Smoking", a book we had both read, then walked back to our room. Today we head to wine counry, Stellenbosch. I will taste wines and Keith will sample the cheeses.