Cape Town

Sunday October 3rd   After days of cloudy and cool weather at sea,  the skies cleared for our arrival at the beautiful port of CapeTown.   Looming over the city "bowl" was the  imposing presence of  Table Mountain with its distinctive flat top --and not a cloud in sight.  Making our arrival even better was the fact that the MV Explorer was docked right there in the center of the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.  Definitely an upgrade from Ghana and Morocco where we had a 20 minute walk to get just to the port entrance.

 The V&A waterfront is filled with upscale shops and restaurants along with companies selling sunset sails and helicopter tours.   That first day I ventured outside the safe confines of the waterfront (this is after all the city with the world's highest murder rate)  to tour  the city via the red doubledecker bus or what one of my fellow passengers called the "topless" bus.

We visited Greenmarket Square filled with vendors from throughout Africa (just not South Africa),  passed Long Street which looks surprisingly like Bourbon Street in New Orleans,  and toured the Castle of Good Hope (actually a fort).

 Thanks to the ingenuity of the early Dutch settlers, Cape Town has expanded its boundaries over the years through landfill.  The Castle used to be on the water and one of the town's major inland thoroughfares was formerly beachfront property.

I'd been warned that clouds often obscure Table Mountain and sure enough as we made our way towards the base the clouds--and winds--rolled in big time.  As a result, the cable car was closed and so my trip to the top will have to wait for another visit.   Next stop was the other side of  Table Mountain where I saw some of the most beautiful beaches as well as  CapeTown's priciest real estate.

Lunch at the town of Camp's Bay felt like I was in Beverly Hills.  And that's probably one of the most difficult parts to come to grips with about this city...how extreme poverty and wealth live side by side.

Traveling through Cape Town, you realize that this is a city whose residents have lived their history.   Reminders of apartheid are all around-- City Hall where Nelson Mandela spoke after being released from 27 years in prison; District Six where in 1966 black residents were evicted  to make way for a white suburb ( today all that remains is mainly  empty lots);  the townships.  It was particularly interesting to meet people who had  lived through these events.  I was struck by how openly they discussed race and the challenges their country faced.  But it was the pride they felt for their World Cup soccer city and its future that impressed me most.  Yah!  (to be continued...)

Monday October 4th

Cape Coast with Cape Convoy

ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?  Meet Rob, owner of a small tour company called Cape Convoy.   I spent the day with Rob and a number of other travelers--from Britain, Australia and Singaporte--touring South Africa's beautiful Cape Coast.  And boy, can this guy talk.

 From the minute we joined Rob,  he went on non-stop. Throughout the conversation he'd constantly ask "Are you with me?"   "Are you following me?"   With anyone else,  you'd be screaming for mercy, but Rob is a born entertainer  -- smart, engaging with an enthusiasm that's  infectious.    You couldn't believe history could be so interesting.  Still, it was hard to figure when he found time to breathe.   We learned about the people,  apartheid (including his family's personal journey), the scenery...but  mostly about South Africa's history.  This guy is a walking encyclopedia and we could have gotten college credit for what we learned.  Every hour or so, he'd even give us pop quizzes. 

We spent the entire day touring Cape Coast.....heading down False Bay (the first explorers in the area didn't realize this was actually a bay) and returning along the rugged Atlantic Coast.   The area is really beautiful and reminded me a lot of California north of San Francisco.

First stop was  the fishing harbor of Hout Bay where we stopped for  a boat trip out to Duiker Island, a sanctuary for the cape fur seal. We passed through the town of Muizenberg with the longest and flattest beach I've ever seen.   Earlier this year, they apparently  set a record for the most people -- over 100 I think--on a single wave.  I'm still trying to picture that one.

Further down the coast was the charming British town of Simons Town  followed by Boulder Beach home of the South African penguins.

The penguins are only about a foot tall and  live there in the shade of bushes along the beach.  But they apparently  can also be seen walking through town and are know to camp out on the porches of homes in the area.

Among the other wildlife we saw that day were ostridges  -- these guys are really huge-- and baboons.  I thought Rob was kidding when he said not to let them in the car, but on one road, we saw a baboon approach the car and stand up as if to get inside.  At the sandwich shop in Cape Point, a baboon actually ran inside and grabbed some sugar packets before being chased outdoors by the server.  Guess he likes his coffee sweet.

After that we defied the fierce winds at Cape Point -- no wonder the Cape is such a challenge for sailors--and climbed to the lighthouse  (somewhere out there is where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean)...and then proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwest part of the island.

We closed out the day with a ride on the scenic Chapman's peak road.  Chiseled out of the mountains by hand and dynamite,  its reminiscent of California's Highway 1 and a great way to close out our day.                  ARE YOU WITH ME?