Cape Town

Africa is a magical place, in particular South Africa. I have always wanted to go to Africa, ever since I did a report on Madagascar when I was 7. However, Paul was a little apprehensive to this idea at first. He kept saying to me, "Why would we leave one developing country to visit another?" Paul and I arrived in South Africa for our 11 day adventure filled with expectations and we left with memories that exceeded our expectations. It is amazing to witness how developed and well organized the city of Cape Town is as well as the entire country of South Africa, especially when you are comparing it to Mumbai, Pune, or the subcontinent of India. The city itself is beautiful, and very similar to the States in how it weaves some many different cultures and customs together as it too has had several different immigrating groups of people. By the end of our trip, Paul too fell in love with this beautiful, mysterious, and vast country. The photos cannot illustrate how beautiful, special, and magical South Africa is as a country. I am not sure where we will travel to next in Africa--perhaps another trip to South Africa would be nice, but we would also like to see Botswana, Kenya, and KwaZulu-Natal amongst other places.

We started our holiday with three days in Cape Town. Cape Town is a beautiful city. The people are extremely friendly and the pace of life is pleasant. Even when it is foggy, the skies somehow seem blue. We had a jam-packed 3 days to see everything we wanted to see, you really could spend 1 week in Cape Town and its environs. However, we accomplished everything that we wanted to do, and yet we are looking forward to visiting this wonderful seaside town again someday (hopefully, soon!).

With our first day, we decided to get our "sea legs" and go sight-seeing at a leisurely pace. We left our hotel and took the ferry over to Robben Island. Robben Island is rich with history and was a great place to start our trip.

We took a 1 hour bus ride around the island to understand everything the island was used for since the Dutch colonized Cape Town during the time of the Dutch East India Company. We ended the tour by going through the prison where Nelson Mandela stayed during his sentence. Below is a photo of our tour guide explaining the harsh life that people faced in prison. He knows best since he was a former prisoner in the cell in which we are sitting. At this moment, he describes to us the different levels of treatment that a black, colored, or white person received while serving their sentence on Robben Island.

Here is the tiny cell that Mr. Mandela occupied while at Robben Island.

We left Robben Island and decided to spend the grey afternoon at the Mount Nelson Hotel for high tea and cucumber sandwiches. 1 hour quickly turned into 4 hours later when we left Mount Nelson. We then headed over to the V & A Waterfront to do some souvenir shopping and grab a quick sushi dinner. Then, back to the Cape Cadogan for some sleep.

Well, we thought we would go to sleep. But when we came inside the foyer there was a roaring fire as well as sherry, port, chocolates, and Brazil nuts awaiting us for a night cap. So, how could we resist. A port later...then off to bed!

Day 2 was a little more hectic, but still a nice pace. We decided to take the Cape Peninsula Tour (a driving tour). We left Cape Cadogan and the City Bowl and drove through Green Point, Sea Point, Clifton, Camps Bay, Llanduano, and Hout Bay. We intended to drive through Chapman's Peak, but it was closed due to rock erosion. So we detoured after Hout Bay, and stopped at a little ferry station to take the boat out to Duiker Island to see the seals, and some of Chapman's Peak. Here I am trying to stand still on the boat that was rocking like crazy . . .

And then Paul ... (I actually think these are the photos a group of Korean tourists took for us--I am surprised they turned out so well!)

Ta-Da! The seals on Duiker Island.

After Duiker Island we continued our drive through Constantia to Cape Point, a.k.a. Table Mountain National Park or the Cape of Good Hope. Driving through the National Park we spotted eland (another type of antelope) many tortoise, as well as this little family of baboons.

I thought it was a nice afternoon, so we should get some exercise and climb the staircase up to the lighthouse to view the Cape of Good Hope. Apparently, Paul and our tour guide, Odette, did not appreciate my suggestion. However, up we went climbing. Here Paul asked for a break half-way up to the lighthouse. The Cape of Good Hope is in the background.

And here it is . . . after a 30 minute climb to the lighthouse . . . The Cape of Good Hope, formerly The Cape of Storms.

We left the park and continued our peninsula tour. We then were heading towards Boulders Beach to see the penguins and hundreds of tourist snapping photos. Odette suggested we stop at a little park where the penguins run free and there are no tourists snapping photos! We thoroughly enjoyed our little detour to observe the little guys running around.

We now drove through the picturesque hamlets of Simon's Town and Fish Hoek and make our way to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Though many of the flowers were not in bloom as it is Fall in South Africa, the gardens were still a wonderful sight to see. It had been so long since Paul and I had the opportunity to wander through such a beautiful, and well manicured, garden. It was breathtaking, and we learned the Bird of Paradise flower is actually originally from Africa. Here is a photo of Paul and I in the gardens with Table Mountain as the backdrop. The fog has lifted so we should be able to go up tomorrow.

Back to Cape Cadogan to freshen up, and then we head out to Ginja for dinner. Ginja is known for its eclectic dishes that weave Afrikaans traditional dishes with Western style cuisine. As you can see, I am so happy to have such a lovely salad with butternut squash for dinner.

Paul chooses to start with "A Taste of the World" in a spoon. Very nice presentation, and also very tasty in his belly.

Day 3 we wake and learn the good news that we are able to go up to the observatory deck on Table Mountain as the fog is now covering downtown Cape Town and no longer the mountain. Below is a photo of the city skyline covered in fog.

Odette poses for a quick photo with me up on the mountain.

Before we leave Cape Town for Franschoek, I have to go to this renowned coffee shop to try a latte and purchase some beans. We head over to Origins Coffee Roasting for a quick cup of joe, and we decided that the Ethiopian Harrar is the winner. I buy 1.5 kg, and we head out the door. Here is a very San Fransiscan perspective of Cape Town as we leave Origins.

Now, we hop back in our VW bus to drive our to Franschoek.