Blogs from Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 3

We woke up with the weather at its best. No wind, warm temperatures and bright blue sky with uncompromised sunshine. This was also necessary, because today was one of the true highlights of the trip, at least for Nenad. A motorbike ride around the Cape and the city. We booked a Royal Enfield bike tour. Nenad has never ridden a Royal Enfield motorcycle, the tractor among bikes. The Royal Enfield Bullet was originally an overhead-valve single-cylinder four-stroke motorcycle made by Royal Enfield in the UK. It is now owned by Madras Motors, an Indian company and produced in Chennai, India. For many years it was the British army bike being used all around the Empire's countries and roads. Sitting on it and you feel the British Raj is still alive ! Nenad will be riding a ... read more

Franschoek Afrikaans for "French Corner", is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns of the Republic of South Africa. It is about 75 kilometers from Cape Town and has a population of app 18'000 people, easily doubling on weekends when the Cape Towners come to party. Cape Town is only a 45 minutes drive away. It is a posh upmarket place where expensive cars and Harley motorbikes are a standard sight. In 1688, French Huguenot refugees began populating the valley establishing farms and businesses bringing with them their experience in agriculture and wine making. The name of the area soon changed to le Coin Français, with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, Champagne, La Cotte, Cabrière, ... read more

We arrived in Cape Town yesterday and had a busy day so I’m just now getting the chance to blog about our adventures here. Our hotel, the Cape Grace Hotel, is absolutely beautiful and is one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed in. The decor is stunning, as is our room, the pool, the restaurant and all of the common areas. And I must not forget that this is also the home of a whiskey bar that houses 450 single malt scotch whiskeys, the largest collection in the southern hemisphere. We enjoyed a tasting of South African wines at the hotel bar and dined at a fish restaurant on the Victoria & Albert waterfront, just a quick walk from our hotel. Next I’ll be blogging about our first full day with our tour guide, Jenny.... read more

Woke this morning to bright sunshine, and when we got to breakfast we could see Table Mountain (without any cloud). Yayy! So back to the Hop On Hop Off bus (red route this time) which also travels through the centre of Cape Town, and then part way up Table Mountain to the Lower Cableway Station. Off the bus, along with everyone else, to join the queue! Waited an hour to ride the cable car to the top. I guess (like us) everyone had waited for a clear day. There are two cable cars, one going up and one down at any given time, they each hold up to 65 people, have a revolving floor, and take 4-5 minutes to the top (or bottom). Once at the top there are paths around the mountain and spectacular views ... read more

Arrived in Johannesburg in the dark - 5am, got our bags and then rechecked them through to Cape Town and were again escorted from the international terminal to the domestic, but this time by a representative from the tour company - a nice touch. And not so rushed - had a 3 1/2 hour wait for our flight to Cape Town. Arrived there mid morning, but could not see Table Mountain on the drive from the airport - it was covered in cloud (the tablecloth apparently). But we were able to get into our room at the Table Bay Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel, on the waterfront where the cheaper rooms have ocean views (ours!) and the expensive ones have views of Table Mountain (hiding behind the clouds). It was nice to be able to ... read more