Day 14 – Goodbye South Africa

Unfortunately, today was our last day. We had a small wander round the area near our hotel and walked along the waterfront.

I felt totally exhausted from all the experiences, sights, sounds, tastes and adventures we’d been on. I can full-heartedly recommend all of South Africa to anyone. It has something for all and is one of the most beautiful and inspiring places I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit.

Day 13 – Shopping in Cape Town

Today we had the pleasure of indulging ourselves in a shopping spree – Cape Town style. I won’t bore you with all my purchasing details but let’s just say the trip was a roaring success! We stopped for a leisurely lunch in the sun at a quirky little café-bakery in the heart of the harbour so that we could truly soak up Cape Town’s vibrant, energising atmosphere.

 

As I munched on my rustic salad of marinated chicken, avocado, roasted mushrooms, feta, pumpkin seeds and tomatoes finished with a chunk of warm homemade ciabatta, I felt truly content in the vivacious atmosphere – fully enjoying the local music acts too!

 

 

 

Day 12 – Treks around Cape Town & Boulders Beach

Today we travelled along the Atlantic Seaboard to the Cape of Good Hope.

 

Along the way we really experienced Cape Town’s dramatic scenic beauty as well as its notoriously changeable weather. 

 

For example, one moment we were in scorching sunlight and the next in a dense cloud of fog – the transition so abrupt you could physically see the difference:

The freezing mist unfortunately followed us to Cape Point so despite hiking up the small 300m climb, we were greeted by no spectacular view but just more fog and the now eerie looking lighthouse. 

 

On the way to these iconic landmarks, we encountered some rare wildlife:

Some eland (despite their size are very difficult to spot and this was apparently a rare sighting according to locals):

Cape fur seals:

Two ostriches which felt peculiar to see them so close to the sea:

 

We also spotted some lamas and a few cheeky baboons with some carrying babies on their backs.

These are animals that are not so rare in the area and have become somewhat more like pests than marvels of nature as they have now learned to open fridge and car doors, even windows in order to get at resident’s food.

Our rarest animal that we spied was the red hartebeest which we saw fighting! (It's so called because – although it was hard to make out – their antlers grow in the shape of a heart):

And on the way to Boulders Beach, we even spied a small pod of whales:

 

The penguins themselves were adorably cute and just hilarious to watch. Some were preening each other:

 

Snuggling up in their little nests:

Sorting twigs out for their beds:

Splashing in the water:

 

And others were either cooling off in the shade or sunbathing on the beach:

We went back out to the V&A Waterfront area that evening and stumbled upon a sophisticated sushi and extended cuisine restaurant that was sublime. I had crayfish to start – a wonderful tian with a tomato and caviar salsa – it was absolutely scrumptious! The crayfish melted in the mouth and the sweet/acidic flavour of the tomato complimented it beautifully. I’d never had caviar before but it was actually rather tasty yet I still can’t see what all the fuss is about.

 

I then had Kingklip as my main. This proved to be a popular dish in Cape Town’s cuisine and was seen as the best fish that the city has to offer. It delivered a good flaky yet almost meaty texture, a clean white taste and a subtle sophistication sautéed in the creamy white wine sauce finished with tomatoes, spring onion, creamy mash and crispy onion wires, it was fantastic!

Day 11 – Cape Town

We left the stunning scenery of the Stellenbosch wine lands as we journeyed to arguably the country’s most diverse city – Cape Town. On entering the city we were unprepared and overwhelmed by the massive stretch of shanty towns that lined the main freeways for miles before the city.

 

It was absolutely shocking to see how far the communities reached and to see how these people lived.

Before settling into our hotel, we visited the renowned Kirstenbosch Gardens, home to an amazing collection of indigenous South African plants. It was absolutely stunning – especially as it was overlooked by Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak.

From walking along the tree tops bridge,

 

discovering the beautiful, native flowers

 

 

 

 to admiring the park's striking modern art,

the whole place was wonderful!

We then continued on to our hotel – a modern, luxuriously furnished building in the heart of the metropolitan hub.

After settling in, we visited the V&A Waterfront – a large shopping centre and bustling harbour, home to names such as Gucci, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger and Prada. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to shop in the centre as we went to wander round the “Red roof” craft market which hosted a wonderful selection of handcrafted goods – from masks to mosaics; portraits to jewellery; printed bed sheets to painted beads as well as some wonderful sculpted animals and African bowls.

 

After shopping 'till we dropped, we recuperated with a few cocktails as we watched the sun go down over the harbour and table mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10 – Exploring the Wine lands

Today was a busy day as it was ram-packed with stops and sights. The first was the beautiful university town of Stellenbosch. There were plenty of delightful shops here that made me wish that we could’ve had longer to wander around the pretty streets and boutiques. However, I did buy a sleek ebony elephant and treated myself to some chocolates at the local chocolatier.

The area was also very quirky and artistic – street art littered most pavements - varying from roman-looking statues to more contemporary pieces (like the one bellow):

Before we arrived at our next stop, we visited Victor Verster prison. On 11th February, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from here after 27-and-a-half years of imprisonment in the fight for equality. This was perhaps one of the most emotional landmarks in the whole country and certainly of our trip.

 

We then went further into the mountains to the little town of Franschhoek. It was a very picturesque settlement which had an abundant amount of galleries, boutiques and a small market area. We went for lunch at the Franschhoek Pancake Café.

I had a gorgeous pancake stuffed with cream cheese and smoked salmon that combined nicely with a good squeeze of lemon juice.

After this fulfilling lunch we continued on to the Boschendal wine estate – the second oldest in the region.

 

Situated in the heart of their wine lands, we were shown all the processes in creating their distinctive wine. First the grapes are picked by hand and are loaded into this vast steel container where the grapes are separated from the twigs and leaves.

They then have their pips removed and are put into huge stainless steel vats at varying temperatures with the skins on – this infuses the juice with more flavour and colour.

The wine is then pumped into oak barrels to mature. Each barrel can hold up to 300 litres of wine.

We were then escorted to our wine tasting.

We were each given 5 different wines – 2 whites, what looked like rosé and 2 reds. I always prefer white anyway but the red was enjoyable too (I won’t bother making up a load of pretentious nonsense). The rosé-coloured wine was in fact one of Boschendal’s specialities – white wine made with red grapes. In order to do this they cook red grapes with the skins on for only two hours before removing them to continue making the wine rather than leaving them on for the whole process to get the deep, rich colour of red wine.

Overall, the day was a beautiful success and we finished back at the hotel for a Cape Malay buffet (a variety of homemade special curries and stews that are a combination of different settlers’ cuisine that came to Cape Town in the 17^th-19^th centuries) - it was delicious!