CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA--Tuesday, February 25, 2014

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Capetown, South Africa--Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Met at 7:00 am this morning to pick up cell phones but the case came with no instructions inside. Big mistake to assume that all of us know how to use this modern type phone. Had a nice buffet breakfast that was a combination of European with sliced cheeses/meats/yogurt; English with bangers, baked beans, and grilled tomatoes; and American with cereals, pancakes, eggs and bacon. Plenty of fresh fruit. British style tea so very, very strong you need to add milk to cut it.

Boarded the bus at 8:00 and headed through town and down the about 60 mile-long peninsula for an all day tour toward the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Absolutely stunning coastal scenery along the way somewhat like Northern California with straight down cliffs to the water’s edge and the road cut into the side of that cliff. The soil, however, is sandstone not granite, and so full of rocks that portions of the road are covered like a half-tunnel, where the cliff is too unstable. Where there is a break in the mountains and a somewhat flat area, very upscale, modern “seaside” homes have been build. Some still used thatched roofs. Our guide referred to them as being the suburbs of Cape Town.

Our guide pointed out a number of things:

--A leopard bronze on a rock in the water to commemorate one who sat and watched the sea every night on that rock. He was the last one in the area.

--Several shipwrecks along this treacherous coast including, a wreck of a large crane that broke away from a tow line.

--Watchers paid by the government to watch for sharks in the water and alert the beach lifeguards. Other “watchers” are paid to track the baboons who are a big problem on this road.



Most of the way we were in Table Mountain National Park, only occasionally travelling through private land. One area was through a “Township,” which is the label/name given to the poor communities once segregated by apartheid. The government is trying to replace the shacks of metal, wood, and whatever is available, with extremely close together cinder block square houses that have electricity and running water.

In the park, near the lighthouse, we saw our first wild elands and bonteboks. After taking pictures at Cape Good Hope, we got off the bus and rode up a tram to the lighthouse plaza. The wind was blowing so hard that it made it hard to walk. Valerie took pictures around the area and then we ate the lunch we had packed. Everyone boarded the bus and we continued the drive now along the eastern side of the peninsula.

We saw some ostriches and then the bus made a turn and there were a group of baboons near the road. We also watched clouds form off the tip of a mountain and then flow over and drape Table Mountain.

At the community of Boulders, we stopped and got off the bus to walk along a road and then through a penguin colony on a boardwalk. These African penguins are very much related to the Megellanic penguins of Chile, but seemed to be somewhat smaller and in our estimation not as “cute.” The “pink” color on the face is natural although it looks like someone had marked them with a magic marker.

The guide pointed out the Vasco De Gama monument down on the beach since he landed on this side of Africa in 1497.

Our next stop was the Constantia Winery where a wine and cheese tasting service was set up for the group. We tasted the cheese and gave the wine to our table mates. We have no idea how much “we” paid for this in our package tour as it was an elaborate set up with the following wines and matching cheeses: Steinberg with Fairview Chevin; Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (didn’t write the name of the cheese down); Semillion 2011 with Mature Gruyere; Nebbiolo 2011 with Portobello Tallejio (my favorite); and a Shiraz 2010 with a Simonzola cheese.

The grounds of the winery were lovely with ripe grapes hanging heavy on the vines in the surrounding fields. There was no tour offered, so Valerie wandered around taking pictures on her own tour.

We got back to the hotel and left soon after in a taxi to a nearby hotel. We decided to have dinner there while we waited for Valerie’s friend Theresa to come after her classes to visit with us. Had a nice visit and then Theresa drove us back to the hotel where we quickly called nite, nite to each other.

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