When we told friends of ours here in Richards Bay that we were off to Cape Town they were a little concerned. "Don't go" they said, "...you'll never come back!" How right they were! What a beautiful place and no wonder South Africans refer to it as the "Mother City". You couldn't find a place less like your stereotypical image of Africa. It's a cosmopolitan place brimming with a ga-zillion things to do and see. And while the country as a whole is described as a "Melting Pot", so far, Cape Town is the only place where I've seen much melting going on.
As with every big city (and most smaller ones as well), you've got to make your way through the outskirts before getting into the thick of things.
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| Luckily, our accommodation was slightly more upmarket... |
When visiting Cape Town, there are usually two items high on most people's "Things I Must Do When in Cape Town" list. They are:
1. A ride on the cable car to the top of Table Mountain
2. A visit to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela spent most of his 27 year imprisonment)
Sadly, we were thwarted on both counts! Trips to Robben Island were booked out due to some bad weather earlier in the week which grounded the ferries, and the cable car was out of commission for its annual service...back to the drawing board.
Luckily, there are more strings to Cape Town's bow, and we found so much more to do and explore, not the least of which was a few good coffees and some funky shopping.
This is a little deli at the Neighbourgoods Market - held every Saturday just out of the city centre with all the good stuff. By that I mean eco-friendly, organic food, artisanal bread, designer stuff, coffee just how we like it, blah, blah, blah. Lovely.
After that it was off to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where we could have easily loitered for a day or two.
Here's one of the giant Proteas.
And this is Camps Bay! Cottesloe could take a leaf out of its book, although is possibly starting a little on the back foot without Table Mountain's Twelve Apostles as its stunning backdrop.
...despite failing to cover the hot ticket tourist items on our agenda, we were pretty satisfied with the view we had of Table Mountain from our accommodation and even managed a squizz at Robben Island from afar, when we had sunset drinks up at Signal Hill. We absolutely fell in love with the place and will be back for more!
