One week in the life of a Capetownian

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I spent my last week in South Africa in Cape Town. I knew there were tons of things to do in the city and around, so I wanted to take my time there to enjoy it. And I can tell you I ENJOYED it A LOT!! :D I met great people here, that I hope to see again and I loved every place I have been to there.



Cape Town is a amazing city for many reasons and I understand why some people told me that for them it’s the best city in the world! I could say the same thing but just one thing is missing for me: not enough very good restaurants. So until now, Hong Kong is staying for me the best city in the world. However, Cape Town and Hong Kong share a lot of common points: big city but with nature surrounding it, mountains around, ocean nearby, many places to hike, good nightlife.



One thing, which I loved in Cape Town, is that even though it’s a big city, you don’t feel it so much while walking around. It’s still enjoyable to work there and it’s not too crowded. Another thing, that I loved here, is the different districts with small streets, nice little cafes, restaurants. I, personally, liked Church Street for that point with the art galleries and the cafes outside.



I also loved Bo Kaap district with its colorful houses and walking up the hill there was nice.



Cape Town, as I said, is a very good city to go out and enjoy the nightlife. I could enjoy it on Friday night and Saturday night with my host Kevin and his friend Charné. The 1^st night, we just went out for a drink in a bar, where a Couchsurfing event was hosted. I liked that evening as I met interesting people. I met for instance a guy, whose wife went on a 2-year worldtrip a few years ago, so we could share about that together 😉 The 2^nd night out was more intense as we went out for dancing on Long Street at Kennedy’s. It was the 1^st time this month that I was going out to dance so I loved it and I even more because I could see that Kevin was enjoying dancing as much as I do J



Even though, I said the only thing missing in Cape Town is some very good restaurants. There are some places, where I went eating that I really liked. In fact, both of those places are using the same concept: cheap but very good Indian fast food. It’s not like any Asian fast food that you could find in Europe, where they adapt it to the European taste. It’s real Asian food. You can choose there between Chinese, Indian, Persian or Turkish cuisine. Those 2 places are called Food Eastern Bazar (near Company’s Garden in a small street from Adderley Str.) and All Food Asia (not totally sure about this last one, but it’s in Long Street around the middle section). In those two places you can get for 2€ a very big meal! I preferred Food Eastern Bazar because the atmosphere and the decoration was nicer: they really recreated the restaurants in Middle East or India there.



Another place, where I went to eat was Mzolis. This place is really particular. It’s a meat seller but once you choose your food you bring it to a big “kitchen” where they will barbecue it. In South Africa, barbecue are called “braai” and are really a custom on weekends. So, in Mzolis, while waiting for our meat to be cooked but also after eating, you can go under a kind of big tent where a DJ is playing African and international music to enjoy and dance. In that place, you will find a mix of tourists and locals. We waited 2 hours for our meat, as it was Sunday and the place was really full, but it was worth it as the food was really good.



What I haven’t said before is that Mzolis is in a Guguthele township in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, so I can get a quick view of what is life in a township when coming there. So, when we drove there, I could notice that many shops -but unfortunately, I think it’s not only shops but also “houses”- are made out of big containers. So, some people are living in such conditions… Around Mzolis, you could find as usual some “car watchers”. This is a common practice in any city in South Africa: people will stay around parking places and watch your car so that no one can rob it. When you are coming back to get your car, you are giving them a small tip for the help. At Mzolis, people were obviously taking advantage of the fact that it’s a touristy place and ask for a “tip” at least 4 times higher than in other places. We negotiated for half of that price and it was ok.



In Cape Town, I didn’t change my habit since the beginning of my trip: going hiking J So, there I hiked Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. Table Mountain hike was quite tough as we were hiking for 1,5 hours to the top of the mountains, going up from 400m high to 1100m high… It was never flat always going up with rocky stairs. With the sun burning –even though we started the hike at 8am!-, it was even more difficult. However, at the end when you arrive at the top you get this very good feeling of accomplishment, which is worth all the efforts in the world. It was even more important for me in fact to complete this hike up to the top than to get the view at Table Mountain. Plus, the disadvantage at Table Mountain is that people can go there by cable car so the place is full of tourists and you cannot appreciate the charm of the place at the maximum because of that… The view is however very nice you can see the city center, the stadium, the harbor, Robben Island, the other hills, the coastline and the mountains.



I also hiked Lion’s Head. It’s a shorter hike than Table Mountain and much easier. However, it was scary at some moment, as it was quite close to the edge of the cliff and I am afraid of heights… But I didn’t look down and just continued walking. The hike was all around the mountains so I had a 360° view over Cape Town, Camps Bay, Table Mountain, the harbor. When I arrived at the top, I loved it. The view was amazing and it was much wilder than Table Mountain as everyone had to hike to arrive at the top. It was very peaceful and quiet there. So I spent some time at the top, writing, taking pictures or just enjoying the view. I went then to Hout’s Bay, where for the 1^st time in my trip I put my feet inside the water of the Atlantic Ocean. And yes I could feel the difference with the temperature of the Indian Ocean. That’s why, I only put my feet inside the water there and not more 😉 Capetownians are lucky as they can choose in which Ocean they wanna swim: Indian Ocean and Atlantic.



The last hike I did around Cape Town was at Cape Point and at Cape of Good Hope. We did that on the weekend with my host and his friend. It was really nice to do this hike with them. They are very friendly people and they made my trip in Cape Town perfect! We hike at Cape Point even further than it was allowed as we wanted to go as close as possible to the real point 😉 It was fun! It was really windy there though! On the way back to Cape Town, we saw some ostriches and baboons. There were a lot of baboons there. One was even carrying the child on its back, walking and eating at the same time 😉



Around Cape Town, I did also 2 days of excursions: I went with my first host Will and his friend to Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town and I went to Stellenbosch and Franshoek.



I loved Kalk Bay!! It’s a really nice little town with small antiquity shops and cafes. There is also a lively harbor there with fishermen cutting and selling their fresh fishes from the day, boats arriving with the new fishes and seals swimming or sunbathing at the harbor 😉



From Kalk Bay, we went to Simon’s Town. I didn’t like the town so much, as it’s not the charm of Kalk Bay. But there, I could see tons of penguins on the Boulder Beach. I saw them walking in a funny way, and swimming. I liked it, even though it was a very touristy places and I was enjoying this moment with a lot of people around me.



One of the last thing I did around Cape Town was to go to Stellenbosch to stay at Marie’s place (the girl I hiked with in Northern Drakensberg). It’s a long story but I ended up staying at her place on that night without her being ther, as she was stuck in Cape Town 😉 Anyway, she came back in the morning and we went to Franshoek together for a wine tasting.



It was quite a funny experience to got there: we took 2 minibus taxis and they were not going straight, as they should but were driving into circles to take people and let them go at their doorstep. They even drove 3 times the same circle for I don’t know which reason… My hypotheses are that the 1^st driver had to go to toilet so he let another guy drive and as it took long the guy drove twice around or the guy had to take his driving license exam in a few days and had to practice beforehand (from the way he drove, this was possible :p). We even did one of the circle just because a woman from the minibus forgot to close her fence. So, we came to her home just for her to close the fence but not even locking it up… This is Africa: you have to be patient, sometimes a 40-km easy drive can take 2 hours like on that day 😉 After driving the 3 circles, the music on the radio was “Relax, take it easy” from Mika and I laughed hearing that, thinking that it was the perfect song for that moment 😉 That’s good in a sense, because Africa is teaching me to be more patient :D Anyway, the way to go to Franshoek was very nice, so I enjoyed the view with the vineyards, the small Dutch houses and the mountains in the background!



Arriving in Franshoek, we went to the Dieu Donné restaurant (yes, I know with the current news about the French humorist, the name of the place is quite funny 😉) for lunch and to do a wine tasting. We chose that place as it was at the top of a hill and we could thus enjoy the view there from the vineyards and the mountains. The view was indeed amazing!! The restaurant was fancy with very good menu and food but the prices were not too expensive. The wine tasting was good: we could choose 3 different wines to taste. I chose a Carbernet Sauvignon, a Rose and a Shiraz. I didn’t like the white wine but I loved the Rose and the Red ones. They were really good and you could feel the different tastes while drinking them. So, after that wine tasting, I can confirm to my South African friend: yes, that’s true you do have good wines! I am not a big fan of the food there but at least for the gastronomic side, the wines are good.



To finish my blog on Cape Town, I wanna show you the view over Table Mountain that I had at the Blouberg Beach -10 minute drive from Kevin’s place!!-. I could see the sunset there, the 1^st day I arrived at his place and we went out for dinner there J Hope you enjoy this view as much as I did!



This was my last blog about South Africa. So to conclude about this country, I wanna say that I really loved that country! I met great people here, could hike a lot and visited amazing places with so nice landscapes. I advise anyone to visit this country at least once; especially nature lovers and hikers!

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Photos

At the top of Table Mountain
After climbing up for 1,5 hours (only steep steps...)

Comments

[enhui]

lovely
this is sooooooo pretty