Cape Town Surrounds

 We got an early start Tuesday morning, at 8:00.  Our driver, Z (yes, he goes by "Z" to help us with the unfamiliarity of his name) loaded just the 4 of us into his large Toyota van and off we went to see the countryside.

We started with a trip up the hill to the base of the Table Mountain cable car.  As the cable car is undergoing annual maintenance, this was as high as we could get without a 2 hour hike each way, which wasn't in the cards.  The view of Cape Town is still excellent.  One can only imagine the view from the top.

You can see the football stadium, the Central Business District, a container ship and Robbens Island out in the harbor.  Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robbens Island for 17? years for apartheid protests.

One of the activities that you can participate along the ridge line just outside of Cape Town is parasailing.  We didn't do it ourselves, but you can certainly imagine that it is a spectacular view.

By the way, Cape Town was sunny, but cool all day.  A high of approximately 60 F (maybe 65?).  A quick check by Sue shows that Cape Town is about as far south as Atlanta or Los Angeles in the states, making these cooler mid-winter temperatures understandable.

Our first stop outside of town center was Camps Bay.  Just a quick teaser of the scenery that would be our treat all day long.  Seriously, the coastline looks about this good most of the time.  Just a beautiful area.

To the near side of the large boulders in the bay there are surfers.  Somewhat crazy surfers by our standards, as the water temperature is about 55F !  Wet suits for sure.  It didn't seem to me that the waves were worth that sort of exposure, but there were 4-6 surfers out there proving me wrong.  On the far side of the boulder, it is swimmers only (none of those, lol!).

Then down the coast to a sheltered area known as Hout Bay.  The access road is known as Chapman's Peak Road and it is featured in one of the James Bond movies, as the introductory drive.  Quantum of Solace for those interested.  The view to the north features the bay.

To the south, it looks more like the Amalfi Coast.  

As we continued down the coast, we moved inland to see the Cape Point Ostrich Farm.  Tortoises, baboons (did not see) and Ostriches are the prime attractions, but we also picked up a few souvenirs.  Which is a bit awkward when you have a 15 kg luggage limit.  We'll see if they make it home.

And now, on to the Cape of Good Hope.  Z told us that it was named by the King of Portugal, who didn't want his sailors to name it, as they would have probably picked a much less appealing name, given the horrible conditions that can dominate the weather going around the point.  Marketing!

On the way into the park, we saw ostrich, eland, and bontebok in the wild.  The bontebok was quite a distance away, which is why the photo is grainy.

There is a funicular ride at the Cape, which gives a terrific view of the Cape and surrounds.  

You might not expect to find penguins at latitude 40 South, but there is indeed a colony of penguins.  

Happy, happy, happy !!!

By now it is 4:00 and we still haven't had lunch, so we went to a restaurant that Z favors.  It was a terrific setting, right on the water and we enjoyed several different choices and a bottle of wine.

Right next to the restaurant was the harbor and what turned out to be perhaps the most amusing part of a great day.  Z has a whole network of entrepreneurs teed up to entertain the tourists and this one brings a bucket of fish heads to the wall for seal feedings.  Yes, we tipped him for the show.

We made our way back to the Victoria & Alfred Hotel and ended an outstanding day with some cards and a glass of wine in the hotel bar, closing it down at about 10:00 pm.  Jet lag?  What jet lag?