Fabulous Cape Town


Advertisement
South Africa's flag
Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town
April 10th 2019
Published: April 10th 2019
Edit Blog Post

Welcome back.

Cape Town has been an absolute joy and we have loved the freedom and the feel of the city. We have stayed at Greenpoint about a 30 minutes walk to the V&A waterfront, which is one of the vibrant parts of the city. As most of you know we make our money stretch by staying in 2 and 3 star places which are clean and comfortable. This place is in a great location and there is plenty of space, big lounge , kitchen, fridge and free laundry. However like much of South Africa it is all top show, not quite clean enough, there is a culture of just doing enough, and poor attention to detail. In some parts of Joburg there were ridiculous numbers of staff in cafes and restaurants but only a third working at any one time the rest would be chatting and playing on their phones. This was always worse where the staff were black and that is an observation not a racial comment.

Like any big city anywhere in the world you have to take extra care and there are huge variations here too. People sleeping rough and begging, street children, I saw a young boy about 10 literally sleeping in a corner outside a restaurant during the day. There is a huge ramshackle township on the outskirts of Hout Bay and District 6 in the city was completely cleared and people moved out. There are loads of nice houses and then the houses for the obscenely rich on the canal where even the pavements are private and patrolled by security guards. A stretch of the Atlantic coast is where the rich hangout at the weekend.

Wednesday was our bonus day as we would still have been on the train, a good opportunity to plan our days, do the washing and catch up. We had a walk to the waterfront and whilst very touristy also very nice. Great food court in the old pump house and for lunch I had traditional African food of samp, tomato sauce and bobotie balls. Samp is a type of corn and bean dish. They were also making huge pans of pap. We have a health food cafe near us and had delicious salad for tea and then a few beers.

Thursday was grey and miserable and by the afternoon we had really heavy rain. Cape Town has severe water problems so it was needed. We went to a funky cafe next to the guest house for breakfast. Its called STRANGERS but the N is backwards and as well as the cafe there are some fab clothes and African goods to buy. They provide blankets as he seating area is open and we needed them. We got a taxi to a 17th century house and then to the Slavery museum, both interesting . By the evening the rain had subsided and we had happy hour drinks, including draft G&T!

Friday was our Robben island trip and we set off in the catamaran at 11am, and we were lucky as after that the boats were cancelled. I expected to find it a highlight but I was underwhelmed, not by the place or the story but by the way the tour was arranged. There was a lot of hanging around, first after the jail visit when we waited for a guide and at the end when we stopped for photo opportunities of Table mountain. One highlight was our guide for the jail was an ex prisoner so spoke from experience. I know I am becoming a grumpy old woman but the constant selfie moments, this is me on Robben island, this is me on Table mountain etc. are irritating enough without having stop on a tour for them. The one really poignant moment was imagining how a tall man like Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in a tiny cell where he could not even stretch out on his bed.

We booked two days on the Hop on Hop off bus and set off with a plan for Saturday. The first part worked well, the red route and then change in the city to yellow. We saw a number of the older buildings in the city and it dropped us at the Castle of Good Hope, which is in fact a fort. Fascinating place and fabulous views of Table Mountain. This was to be our next destination till we saw the waiting times, 45 minutes to get up and one hour down! So we went and looked at Bo-Kapp with its coloured houses, it was the original place the slaves lived after they were emancipated. It was getting hot so we went to an Ethiopian restaurant and checked the cable car times and changed our plans. We moved the cable car to first thing Sunday and set off for the Botanical gardens. Gorgeous place with huge variety of plants, tress etc. but not much colour as it is autumn here. I wanted to see the protea, the national flower of South Africa, and they were right at the top of the gardens, not an easy walk in the heat. When we got there hardly any were flowering!! We got the bus back and it went right up the Atlantic coast back to the waterfront. Lots of expensive places for the beautiful people to hang out!! Back at the waterfront we had a couple of beers after a long day. In the evening we just went to our “local”, the Bootlegger, where the service has been friendly and efficient. My quinoa burger was delicious.

Sunday and round two of the bus. We walked down to the waterfront and got the bus straight to Table Mountain where there was no queue. The cable car is one only a few in the world that rotate as it ascends and descends, the floor moves slowly so changing your view. It was our first experience of our favourite tourists, I was nearly barged out of the way by a Chinese man! There have been relatively few here in South Africa, no doubt there will be plenty at Victoria Falls! The ride both ways was amazing and the top is incredible and it is not just the views, although they are pretty stunning. I knew it looked flat from the bottom but to be so high and with a huge expanse of flat land was a unique experience. It was breathtakingly beautiful and we sat in the sun having a coffee (in a compostable cup, they also have eco loos) enjoying the experience. As we were early it was not too busy and we had a wander right around the paths enjoying views from all sides. Got to be in my top 10 places and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.

We got back on the bus and got off for a wander along the seafront watching the para gliders landing. Our final bus journey took us back to the waterfront where we had delicious fresh salmon salad bowls while we listened to the street performers. Chris went back to the guesthouse and I had my second amazing experience of the day when I visited the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. It was once an old grain silo and the transformation is fabulous and I was as interested in the buildings as the art. I was not disappointed, it is mind blowing and so many of the features are a nod to its working past. The glass fronted lift gives an amazing perspective and I went up to the restaurant on the 6th floor to have a glass of wine. Stunning and as it is contemporary art there were some interesting pieces! Back to freshen up and we went out for Sunday evening meal only to find lots of places closed and ended up in a Butcher's Grill where I had chicken skewers and Chris had a delicious steak.

Originally we were picking a car up on Tuesday 9th April to head off into the wine area, but we moved it forward a day so that we could see some of the Cape, in particular the African penguins. We headed off and got to Boulders Beach mid morning and there were plenty to see. Pretty cute, but very smelly! At £10 each it was an expensive stop but we headed off to go down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. When we saw the admission charge of £20 each, which didn't include the funicular we decided against it, not least that it was four times the price paid by S African residents. There is an argument that we are rich by comparison and sights need to be accessible to locals but some of the locals are driving around in top of the range cars, living in penthouse apartments. In India we paid ten times the local rate to see the Taj Mahal but it was about £5 . So we cut across the peninsula and stopped in a cafe in a place called Scarborough. The only way to describe it is to imagine a hillbilly/hippie vibe from the 70’s. Everything was very rustic, the walls covered in paintings for sale by local artists, some of which were not very good. It was grubby and we should have left straight away but didn't. We ordered coffee and the cheese board to share. Coffee came fairly quickly but it took 25 minutes to get cheese........meanwhile there were loads of people milling around. The owner was trying to ask some staff for ideas for a new menu that was met by indifference, and interestingly no eye contact. By we left there were five staff, some moaning about how much unpaid overtime they did, others eating cake with local customers. The toilets were manky so clearly it is all chat and no work. The moral of this story is if it doesn't feel right it usually isn't.

We then set off driving and drove across the stunningly beautiful Chapman's peak, fabulous pass around the headland but with a good road. It ends at Hout bay where we had a fabulous meal in the fish restaurant with amazing service. Snoek pate and yellowtail fish for me and Chris had the same fish but chowder for starter. We looked out onto the bay and watched the cormorants fishing in the shallows. A great end to an interesting day.

Tuesday and time to leave Cape Town for a trip inland to see the quieter side of S Africa. I plotted the route to take us around another stunning bay heading towards Betty's Bay. When we got there there was another penguin colony, this time only 25 rand and much less busy and much easier to see the penguins. The local cafe did a great pot of tea for two for the princely sum of £1.20. We drove towards Carleton and stopped for lunch of amazing bobotie pie at a bakery. My route then took us over a pass towards Swellendam where we saw blue cranes, the national bird of S Africa and not very common anymore.

We arrived in Swellendam and have a lovely room , with a private outside area and pool shared with the other two rooms. Lydia our host made a reservation for dinner at a local place and the food was delicious. We ate on the patio under the stars by candlelight and it was really relaxing. Finally we were able to try African game, our main course was wildebeest, ostrich and springbok. Starters were liver parfait and calamari and I couldn't resist the trio of deserts and Chris had a cheeseboard. Wine is cheap in bars and restaurants a glass of fizz was £2.50. The whole meal with wine and beer was £54.

We are here for a couple of nights to enjoy the stunning mountains and visit some of the sights in the third oldest town in South Africa.

Hope you enjoy reading this, till next time

Norma x

Advertisement



Tot: 0.174s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0617s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb