Mother City with Mother & Father

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Windhoek to Cape Town is approximately 1,500 km and was the longest bus trip I took so far in one go. It took 21 hours, but wasn't actually so bad, partly because I was so tired from my trip to the Sossuvlei and slept quite easily. This was until we reached the South African border at about 3.30 a.m. and all had to get off, get stamped out of Namibia (where the official asked me 'How's Bono?'😉 and into South Africa. This would have been straight forward enough if the South Africans hadn't kept us over an hour as they checked everyone's laptop, for I don't know what.

I woke up on the bus as the sun came up and admired the scenery as we passed through the Northern Cape. I had fallen asleep again as we pulled into Cape Town at 2.30 p.m. and made my way to Long St Backpackers to check in. I went for a walk around this area of the city and was struck how cosmopolitan it was. Every race and creed seemed to be represented. I had some Namibian Dollars left over, which I wanted to change. This proved difficult and in the end had to accept a big hit on the commission and exchange rate.

My parents flew in the next morning and I arranged to meet them down by the V & A Waterfront, where they had rented an apartment for us. The tent would be staying in its pack for the time being! It was great to see family after so many months away. You can skype and email as much as you want, but nothing beats meeting up with loved ones.

The next day, the weather was glorious and Table Mountain towered over the city inviting everyone up. We decided we should take advantage and go up. Much to Dad's chagrin, we discovered that the cable car that goes up was closed for renovations, which meant we had to climb it. We took the Platteklip Gorge route up, which offers majestic views as you go. Dad 's bad hip caused him some trouble, but in a heroic effort, made it to the top. Forget Katie Taylor, this was the greatest Irish sporting achievement of the summer! Mum also made it to the top, as if it was ever in doubt. Despite my sandboarding injury, I soldiered up too.

At the top the views are breathtaking. We did a little semi-circle at the top. You could spend hours up there and not get bored of it. Even though it was a glorious day, the wind was quite strong up there and it got quite cold. We did get to see some unique wildlife up there, with some dassies, a kind of guinea pig, roaming around. The way back down, was a little tougher if anything, but we rewarded ourselves with a drink at the Ferryman's down near the Waterfront.

Over the next couple of days, we did some sightseeing in and around Cape Town. One day we took one of the red bus Sightseeing tours. We checked out Mount Nelson Hotel, a throwback to colonial times, which surprisingly has the Union Jack still flying. We went on to District Six, an inner-city residential area best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. There is a museum there, with a lot of memoribilia from the time, but fails to tell the full story, in my opinion.

We also visited the Bo Kaap area, an extremely colourful part of town, whose inhabitants are a blend of cultures descended from slaves imported by the Dutch in the 1700s. Later, we passed the Camps Bay area. This is where the best beaches in Cape Town are located. It began to lash down rain, so we weren't tempted to visit any, but it was obvious how busy this place would be during summer, with every inch taken up with apartments, restaurants and bars.

After walking around Company Gardens one of the days, we made our way to Green Market after which, we stumbled upon an ANC rally. Not long after, we saw a girl (a tourist presumably) chasing after a guy who had snatched her bag. She was making such a furore that a couple of people chased him and we saw him being accosted. Later that evening, Dad was harrassed by a beggar/wannabe mugger, who claimed he was his "Daddy". I think this guy was more crazy than harmful and the other mugging incident, was the only unsavoury incident we witnessed in Cape Town. Overall, I felt quite safe there. Even at night there are a lot of police around. Although it must be said, we didn't wander too far away from the Long St. area or the Waterfront at night time.

On our last day, we went to visit Robben Island, which is a must-see for all visitors to Cape Town in my opinion. Luckily, Dad had booked tickets in advance as unknown to me, it can book out weeks in advance. The boat ride out there takes about 45 minutes, where you board a bus for a tour of the island. On this tour, you pass the lime quarry the prisoners used to work in, a leper cemetery and a church where nowadays it is popular for people to get married at. There is also an Irish history to the island. In the 19th century, missionaries went out to care for the lepers. Allegedly, they turned one of the hospitals that had been there into a pub.

After this bus tour, we were brought to the prison, where Nelson Mandela and the other political prisoners were held. We were guided around the prison, by a former prisoner, whose name I couldn't catch. He walked with a stick and I overheard him telling someone he had been involved in "operations" after training in Angola. He took us around the various cell blocks and it was strange to be standing outside the cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years imprisonment in. It was also humbling to be in the very place where one of the greatest revolutionary movements, educated each other and ultimately brought the apartheid regime to an end. It was definitely a fitting end to Cape Town, the best city I had been in Africa and one I certainly intend to return to.

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