Blogs from Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 11

Wir haben es geschafft!!! Über 30 Stunden Anreise stecken uns in den Knochen und die kids haben bis sum Schluss wacker durchgehalten. Auto wurde organisiert und Hotel gefunden. Der Ausblick und der Strand entschädigen für die Strapazen ;) Der erste Eindruck ist schon mal toll, alles eher entspannt hier und wir freuen uns natürlich auf alles was da noch so kommt... Nicolas war zwar ein wenig enttäuscht, weil keine wilden Tiere (außer Möwen die Muscheln verspeisen) bei uns am Strand wohnen aber mit ein wenig Zeit und Geduld wird sich auch das weisen...... read more

The Cape Town region first came to the attention of the European world when the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias landed there in 1486 but it was not until 1652 that any attempt was made to build a permanent settlement when the Dutch East India Company established a way-station for ships travelling to what is now Indonesia. Apparently the settlement grew only slowly as it was difficult to find adequate labour. This was overcome by importing slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar. These became the ancestors of the current “Cape Coloured” communities. During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars the Netherlands was regularly occupied by France and Britain started to take control of the Dutch colonies. Cape Town was captured in 1795, returned to the Dutch in 1803, was reoccupied in 1806 and finally ceded permanently to ... read more

Geo: -33.979, 18.5102We spent three days at sea after leaving the Seychelles. We sailed south, passing between Madagascar and the African coast. On the first day we had to take part in a Piracy drill as we were skirting the area where there had been boardings of ships. The drill required us to stay in our cabins while the crew did a series of manoeuvres designed to outrun any attack. All went well and I'm sure will remain just a precaution. The weather continued warm and clear with slight seas though we were travelling against the prevailing current. Life on board continued with quizzes, the Pop choir rehearsals and food, food and more food. I started walking laps around the deck to try and counter the effects of all this good living. We were able to ... read more

Sleep!!!! Yes we had a lie in - thank heavens for Shabbat. We went down for a leisurely breakfast and decided that together with Avi and Angela we would go to the synagogue in Arthurs Road for the morning service. The service at Athurs Road shul was much more to our liking - no choir, friendly people in a very nice synagogue. After the service we went to the kiddush or the “bracha” as it is known in South Africa. From what we understand the “bracha” at the Marais Road synagogue was really spectacular and many of the congregation used it as their lunch. Arthurs Road provided a nice kiddush bracha as well. Before leaving the shul we prayed in the mincha gedola service. Interestingly they ended with psalm 104 but not the series of shir ... read more

Nous avons choisi comme point de chute l'auberge de jeunesse "Cape Town Deco Lodge". Cette fois, nous avons demandé un ordre de grandeur du prix de la course à notre hôte, et négocié le prix du taxi de façon à ne pas trop nous faire rouler. Malgré tout, le taximan a quand même essayé de nous faire croire que notre destination était loin du centre-ville. Arrivés le mercredi, nous avons réservé 4 nuits et attendons de prendre la température de la ville pour décider de la suite du programme. Les premières impressions sur la ville sont agréables, les 1ers contacts à l'auberge de jeunesse aussi : hormis le personnel on y croise des étudiants dans la vingtaine, des mannequins sous contrat ou non, des travailleurs trentenaires. Certains sont sur le départ, d'autres sont arrivés depuis peu ... read more