Cape Town

December 27th
Thursday was a day of travel. We left Victoria falls late morning, flew to Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town arriving about 8:30. Our transfer greeted us and drove into the large bustling city of Cape Town. It was dark so we couldn't really see the scenery but what a change from where we'd been! We were surrounded by mountains and right on the water. We arrived on the waterfront, a very popular and touristy section of the Cape at the Victoria and Alfred Hotel with a beautiful suite overlooking the bay and Table Mountain. After checking in we wandered around the jam packed waterfront looking for a good place to grab some beers and a snack. Mitchell's Ale House seemed quite inviting since its the last name of a few of our good friends so we enjoyed some local beers and had a nice time.

Waterfront at night

First night's PICTURES

December 28th
Friday morning we had a scenic breakfast on the waterfront and met our rental car guy right at the hotel. It was time to drive on the wrong side of the road! It took a while to get used to grabbing the seat belt on the opposite side and for Dave to figure out that the wipers were not the turn signal! We drove down to Cape Point stopping for scenic pictures along the coastline. The waves were huge, the slopes were steep and sun was warm. It was a awesome. There is a toll portion of the road called Chapman's Peak Highway where many international car commercials are shot. We will be watching them closely now!  We enjoyed the beautiful coastline views on the drive down to the point. 

One of the many beautiful pics of the coastline!

It was about noon as we pulled to the main gate to Cape Point in Table Mountain National Park and there were cars lined up. We took the Flying Dutchman funicular to the top of the point where we climbed a few hundred more steps for views that were out of this world. We were on the southern most tip of Africa! There are many hiking trails and walks along the coast to do but since we only had the day to explore we moved up alongside the eastern side of the point to Boulders Beach to view the colony of penguins that migrated there back in the 80's. I've always loved penguins and to see them in a natural environment instead of a zoo was so much fun. I could have spent hours watching them, they were so funny sunning themselves and swimming. 

Video of the Penguins at Boulders Beach

The day was absolutely perfect, weather was great, and we really wanted to try to get to the top of Table Mountain back up in Cape Town but the "tablecloth" continued to cover the mountain making it not worth our while to go to the top and see nothing!

The tablecloth is forever on the mountain!

On the way back into the city we took a drive up Signal Hill, about 300 meters lower than the big mountain. We were still able to take some nice pictures, see Robben Island and enjoy the views. We were glad to get the car parked back at the hotel lot safely and be off the roads. The holiday and weekend traffic getting onto the Waterfront was really terrible so we decided to leave the car parked till we left! That evening we ventured over to the busy Waterfront restaurant area and had a great meal at an African steak house. I had fillet but Dave had Boerewors, a traditional beef based African sausage and then he ordered Cape Brandy Pudding for dessert which was absolutely delicious (because of course I stole a few bites!) It was not like pudding at all, but more like a light cake soaked in rum or butterscotch or something. I will certainly be looking for recipes to try and I'm pretty sure it's the same type of thing we had on the riverbed dinner at Simbambili.

The delicious Cape Pudding

Friday's PICTURES

December 29th
Saturday we made the decision to do a Township tour. We had been on the fence about it for weeks but were really glad that we chose to do it. There are six Townships in Cape Town and the population is in the millions outside of the almost 3 million that live in Cape Town.  We first went to the District 6 Museum that gave us a broad overview of the history.  We learned a lot more about the history and personal experiences from our guide Cornelia who was actually raised in one of the Townships.We were guided through the streets, houses and shacks by a young man that actually lived there. It was a very sobering experience.

A boy running with his dog down a street in the Township

I don't think the pictures can really explain or we could even really describe the types of living conditions we saw but all of the people we encountered were very nice and happy. The children were beautiful, quick to give a high five or grab my hand and spin around and play. We visited a pub and sampled the African beer, warm and bitter in a big bucket!   (I still can't believe I drank out of it!) We were also taken to a natural healer, inside his creepy little store shack, where he explained some of the remedies he used. Thank goodness it was a quick demo and explanation, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Finally, Cornelia took us to a street in the Township where the women were preparing Smileys, a common SA street food also known as the sheep head. The smell was overwhelming for me as the smoke from the fire cooking them seems to blow in every direction. I tried my hardest to keep my gagging to a minimum as I didn't want to be too offensive. It was really disgusting for me but for them, it's traditional!  We just couldn't figure out what was to eat but basically they eat it all but the teeth!


They don't look like they are smiling to me!

We were happy to get back to the Waterfront and we were very thankful for where we were because what we had just experienced was a good eye opener as to how so many people of Africa live and had lived. It was very sad.  It was another hot and beautiful afternoon. We had a nice lunch and walked all around the waterfront where there are shops, live music, people watching galore and seals! We had another great dinner, and found a live band playing outside at Ferrymans Tavern where we had the worst Paulaner on tap that we've ever had! I couldn't even finish it, stick with the local beer....stick with the local beer! Another good nights sleep in our beautiful waterfront hotel room and we were off to the beautiful Winelands in the morning.

Saturday's PICTURES