Cape Town

After two weeks in the village and the bush, re-entry into civilization was interesting. There were so many people, cars and city noises that we had a bit of sensory overload. We quickly recovered because Cape Town must be one of the most beautiful places on earth. As you drive down the shoreline you can see the Atlantic Ocean crashing into the pristine white beach, which is surrounded by mountains covered in green bush and a beautiful blue sunny sky. The houses are stacked up a steep incline leading up to the sea, which reminded me of a cross between the Greek Islands and San Francisco.


Our guest house was absolutely stunning. 51 on Kloofnek (www.51onkloofnek.co.za) is situated high on mountainside, so the back patio had a great view of Table Mountain, which is completely flat like a table and lit up beautifully at night. The décor was a cross between modern Nordic white and clean lines with a few antique pieces thrown in to soften it up. Our room had a white fluffy bed, which is really all I care about in a room. We loved the patio…beautiful views, a garden and a pool. It was the kind of place you want to sit and read with a glass of wine all night. So that’s what we did the first night. We needed a break, so we stayed in, ordered pizza, had a couple beers and rested.

51 on Kloofnek

The first day we took a tour around the cape with Henry. Henry drove us by the V&A Waterfront, new world cup soccer stadium, and down the coast through all the little bay towns along the cape…all cute, quaint and situated around a pretty white sand beach. The coastal drive along Chapman’s Peak was the most dramatic coast line I’ve ever seen. The road is cut right into the steep slope of the mountainside and it felt like we could drive right off the edge at any moment. When we got out to take photos the sound of the waves crashing sounded like claps of thunder and created a spray several meters high (when in Rome…measure in meters).

Chapman Peak Road

The Cape of Good Hope was one of the main attractions, which is the southern most point of the cape. The cape got its name from the European sailors who had been sailing a long distance on their way to India and hoped to be fed and cured of disease on the cape. We walked up hundreds of stairs to reach the light house and were rewarded with an amazing panoramic of sea meeting mountains and cliffs. It is impossible to do it justice in words and I fear that I didn’t even capture the beauty adequately on film.

S+J at Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

We had lunch at a seaside restaurant. We ate delicious Kingclip fish, which has a lobster consistency, and lamb curry. Then we hit a penguin colony, which I absolutely loved. The penguins are adorable and curious little creatures. They either sit by the shoreline or up on the beach in what looks like a sun bathing position with their beaks open to ventilate cool air into their bodies. They were nesting over little mini penguins, which was really cute. I took about a hundred pictures of them that will have to be narrowed down a bit. I recognize that is excessive. But they are really cute.

Mini Penguin

Sunning

Penguin Hangin Out

On the ride home we stumbled upon a troop of baboons who looked cute and friendly. However Henry told us that these creatures were a real nuisance because they rob the locals and tourists of food. They are very smart...they will watch how you open the car, front door or fridge and then mimick your actions to steal your food. They are also aggressive and protected by law, so you must just let them take what they want and leave.
 

Baboon

The final stop was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which had beautiful green rolling hills and pretty local plants and flowers. I saw the most curious thing…they had a section on medical ailments and had plants that they claimed help everything from gas to cancer to HIV. I hope they are used as a supplement to scientific medicine and not as a replacement.

S+J at the Gardens

J+S at Table Mountain

Table Mountain Sunset

We spotted a guy with a classic 35mm that was taking great pains to capture the sunset and asked him to take our picture. When he looked up from the camera we saw the spitting image of Ronnie Barker our wedding photographer. For the rest of the trip we referred to him as South African Ronnie.

SA Ronnie

Cape Town is also known for its excellent restaurants. Our favorite was an Italian joint called 95 Keerom (www.95keerom.com) recommended by our Joberg friends. It was insanely good even compared to the best spots in New York. We had fresh baked bread, fresh buffalo mozz (flown in from Italy daily), handmade gnocchi, tender Mediterranean style pork, Groote Post Chardonnay (excellent), melt-in-your-mouth-warm chocolate cake and port. It earned the title of “best meal in Africa” thus far.

We were sad to leave Cape Town after only such a short stay, but we will come through again at the end of our journey.

The next day we hit Table Mountain, which is arguably the main attraction in Cape Town and the toughest to experience because the city’s weather can change on a dime and it is not recommended to go up the mountain in bad weather. Cape Town is surrounded by mountains, but this mountain is special because it is flat as a pancake and provides a great view. We (Joe) wanted to hike it but we didn’t get started until 5pm and worried we would have missed the sunset. Darn. So we packed up cheese, crackers, and wine and took a taxi to the cable car. The line was literally a mile long and we thought we would miss it for sure. But the line went pretty quickly and we made it to the top just in time. (tip: buy your tickets online in advance.) The top of Table Mountain offered sweeping views of the city, sea and other mountains. It was a beautiful panoramic and again, my photography skills are grossly inadequate to capture the beauty of the view. We sat on a brick ledge, spread out our picnic and watched the sun inch toward the sea in the full spectrum of colors from deep purples to firey reds.