Blogs from Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 5

9/14/08-9/15/08 I love bargain shopping. This is why Court and I were ready to wheel and deal at the Green Point Market, which is held each Sunday across the street from our guest house. Philip told us to haggle-- in fact, he told us to halve their asking price, then halve it again as a place to start, but that seemed extreme (we're new at this...) As we walked around the market, we got better at it, buying all sorts of gifts and mementos. In fact, we got so good at it that after a few hours of browsing and bargaining, we ran out of cash completely, even after avoiding the overly aggressive vendors! That night we ate at a grill where Court had warthog ribs and I had an ostrich fillet, and we both shared ... read more

I went on the Cape Point Peninsula tour today. What an amazing day, the weather ended up being beautiful and met some really nice people on the tour. The tour consisted of a drive down the peninsula from Cape Town to Cape Point where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. Very scenic, convaluted drive. We stopped in Hout Bay where we got on a boat to Duiker Island - a seal colony. I'm not sure what impressed me more - the seals or the 7 meter swells our boat ended up surfing!! The next stop was to Simon's Town to watch the African penguins run around. Simon's Town is quite a beautiful place, lots of big beautiful houses on the beach. Just recently, (in the past 10 years I think) penguins started roosting on the beach ... read more

The Cape - We’re here! Wednesday, June 25 After a serious 29 hour journey to Cape Town, we finally arrived. Customs wasn’t bad but exchanging cash for Rand seemed to take almost as long as our flight. Greeted by an “Ilios” travel agent, we made our way to the Cape Grace Hotel and were warmly welcomed by Tonya. She made some arrangements for us for our two day stay in Cape town, informed us that our room would be ready by 11AM, and requested we have some tea in the library. After a splendid crumpet, we made our way to Cape Grace room 311 where we were told that we were the first couple to stay in the room since renovated just the prior week. Wonderfully appointed with impeccable detail, we instantly fell into a ... read more

In Simon's Town angekommen (der letzte Ort vor dem Kap der Guten Hoffnung) ist man erst einmal ueberrascht von der Internationalitaet. Kein Wunder aber, denn der Ort besitzt einen Marinehafen, wo ueber die Jahrzehnte hinweg allerlei Schiffe aus allerlei Laendern angelegt haben. Morgens gibt es Broetchen und Kaffee aus einer deutschen Baeckerei... hmmm viiiel besser als bei uns... Ehrlich! Ein Must-do sind die suedafrikanischen Pinguine. Die sind echt ueberall und scheinbar nur hier wirklich zahlreich der Oeffentlichkeit zugaenglich. Der kleine Nationalpark ist super angelegt und wirklich sehenswert. Wie ich schon im vorherigen Blog erwaehnte, sind Domink und ich bei dem einzigen Backpacker untergekommen. Der renoviert gerade und erklaert uns seine Zukunfstplaene. Er ist derjenige, mit dem ich die Diskussion ueber Suedafrika gefuehrt habe. Abends haben wir im Restaurant mal so rich... read more