Oh Mother, what a city*

Cape Town
January 5th, 2009

We moved into Cape Town on a beautifully clear, sunny day and decided that before doing anything else we must go up Table Mountain. We drove towards the mountain and quickly noticed that we weren’t the only people with the same idea. Traffic was hectic, the car park was overflowing and the q for tickets stretched for what seemed like miles. I jumped out of the car early to line up, luckily the line moved fairly quickly, although we did wait for just over an hour. The trip up on the cable car was very quick with the advertised ‘three minutes’ up being a true fact. Not being much of a fan for heights, I was pleased that the trip was surprising smooth and the rotating floor was actually nice and not as scary as I imagined it might be. Our waiting was worthwhile, as when we arrived the viewing was perfect. Without a cloud in sight and without wind we wandered around, first on our own and then with a free guided tour. We could even hear the 12:00 cannon fire from down below on Signal Hill . It was spectacular and a must for any clear day.

The next day we woke up early and headed into the V&A to the Red Clock Tower to have a tour of Robben Island. We took a ferry housing about 250 people across to the island. Once arriving, tour buses waited and the large group was divided into smaller groups of about 50. The tour buses went around the island pointing out places of interest including an Islamic shrine, guard housing and villages, WWII defensive armaments and more. We then got off the bus and had a guided tour of the prison by an ex-political prisoner. It was fascinating to see the infamous prison along with Comrade Mandela’s cell and its shocking smallness.

Other highlights included shopping at the V&A and wandering along the waterfront, exploring Long Street and making many brilliant purchases, renting motorcycles and cruising the twisty roads, seeing the penguins and walking to the lighthouse at Cape Point and braaiing on the balcony of Emile and Alinda’s beautiful Blouberg flat (thanks again).

*Cape Town is known as the ‘Mother City’