SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 1

SOUTH AFRICA!!! Cape Town!!! 

Hello! Hallo!

Sawubona! (actually that's the name of the SAA inflight magazine - Hello in Zulu, I think)

Land of Spur, Ocean Basket, Debonairs Pizza, Shoprite, Game, MTN, Standard Bank/Stanbic Bank, South African Airways, DSTV, Trevor Noah and Mandela (the last two being aired almost on monthly basis). With Mandela most notably the 3 movies :

1) Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

2) Goodbye Bafana

3) Invictus 

(Will talk more on the movie much later..or just IMDB it...I mean not 1MDB, but Internet Movie DataBase...phew, that could be quite a....ahem topic. Steering away from it right now)

Cape Town during our visit was in the low to mid 20's ºCelsius and the sweater from Sarcasteek serves the purpose. At the airport, Jean-Luc came to send us to the apartment at Adderley Street in Cape Town's Central Business District. 

A few minutes after we left the airport, Jean-Luc began the usual 'tour guide' enquiry. How many days? Places to visit. Infos on the best time to visit the many places of attractions etc etc. It was during this time he mentioned about the settlements along the freeway.

Jean-Luc informed us that the these are only temporary settlement or township before they residents receive a permanent house. They have communal toilet and bathing area (what I heard from JL). 

Not far from the township, we passed a modern housing area or estate which the driver mentioned, the residents of the previous settlement were waiting for their turn to receive one. The houses were painted in a very lively color which I think accentuate the size and overall liveliness of the area.

I could imagine my dad especially, would roll his eyes and insist that I should repaint the house. In the process, he would give me a few reason why I should do so and his voice would be in CAPITAL LETTERS...nice. 

The weather was nice, it was only 11am in the morning and we're upbeat! Only 1hr time difference means I could drag the whole family to begin our tour of the town. The traffic into town was pretty much slow because of the on going resurfacing of the freeway. 

It was then, in the distance two distinct natural feature of the Cape Town. One flat as a table and the other as if looked like a lion's mane looking back at us. Table Mountain and Lion's Head on our right! 

It was a lot to take in....The natural wonders, the Castle of Good Hope, the overall city and it's old buildings, the McDonald and Burger King, the flower market and the hustle and bustle of the town which is not as crowded as Lagos Mainland (yes we have Lagos Island,if you're wondering) but organised into blocks of building like Muar or Manhattan. It's easy to navigate around the area but it can get congested in no time at all.

Since it was still early, we had early lunch at a nearby McDonalds..

note the Halaal cert

From the McDonalds, we walked a few blocks away to the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus ticket counter and bus stop. We bought our tickets online prior to our visit as sometimes it's a few percent cheaper and to avoid queue at some places, especially the trip up Table Mountain at the cable car station. Also, some attraction like Robben Island tickets usually sells like hot cakes...so better buy online earlier or you'll be sorry. 

The HOHO bus is the best way to locate all the places of attractions in Cape Town and other cities where they operate. We took the longest route, Blue route and it was about two and half hours trip. On board, you just plug in the free earphone they provided and listen to the commentary about the places we passed along the way.

I know it could be tiresome to listen, except to history buffs and information junkie like me.

the HOHO route map (from www.citysightseeing.co.za)

The first time we took the bus, we opted for the Blue route. It passed the Rhodes Memorial (businessman, mining magnate,   politician, created Rhodesia which is now Zimbabwe and a white supremacist.....an architect of apartheid) which is at the Devil's Peak. 

Cecil John Rhodes memorial

Then there's the Motsert's Mill which is the oldest surviving mill outside The Netherlands. It was built in the before the turn of 18th century. 

Mostert's Mill

Kirstenbosch Botanical garden

The bus stopped at Kirstenbosch botanical garden at the foot of Table Mountain. The website is quite comprehensive and has a virtual map for you to browse over. Entrance fee is R60 (about RM 18 or USD 4.30) for adult and much less for children. With the HOHO bus, one can simply alight and visit the park and wait again for the bus to arrive every 30minutes.   Also check the visiting hours which varies from season to season.

Looks nice on camera...the movement, just be careful
not to get hit by the leaves..can be very painful

Purple Line bus

I do hope they can drive safely after the tour...
three vineyard in total

Next was the Wine Tour (Purple Line) and no, we did not stop there. But it was famous among the oyinbos. BTW, the bus stop for the Wine Tour is number 21 and since it's a day ticket, you can even change route along the way. So the detour to Purple line will not cost you another ticket. Just disembark ,enjoy the tour and once you're done get on board the next HOHO bus back to the city.

World of Birds

Imizamo Yethu township

Along the way, there's the World of Birds (website), stop number 22 and the Imizamo Yethu township, stop number 23. Inquire at the HOHO ticket counter about tours to the township. There's also a famous Original T-Bag (website) shop where recycled tea bags are converted into very desirable articles for collection and  all are handmade products. Make it as a gift or  place it in the cupboard along with all the other mementoes of your memorable visits.

From then on, it was coastal drive all the way to Cape Town. That was awesome. The Twelve Apostles not to be confused to the one in Australia. These are rock formation that extend from the Table Mountain. Actually, there are 19 in total according to the info. Why they stick to 12, I am not sure.  The stretch from the Hout Bay....

The Twelve Apostles

....To Camps Bay was mesmerising. There's a bus stop for you to do some exploring of the area or maybe a dip in the water. There's a man made (I think) enclosure with sea water for safety and it's by the beach. There's cafes too, serving fresh grind coffee and seafood by the road. It gets pretty busy on weekends and holiday season.

an enclosure for swimming 

Further down, we reached the area where with a bankful of money you would be able to buy these luxury apartments by the cliffside and quite close to the beach. Some came equipped with a glass personal funicular system just to reach these unit! 

After the bus stop at the President Hotel, quite a long stretch of beach almost all the way to V&A waterfront. There's lots of old and new residential buildings along the way. 

The stretch was very windy. There's evident of it by looking at the trees. How they bent away from the beach from all the years blown and on the building side, how it bend towards the sea due to deflection of the wind against the building. The Green Point Lighthouse is the oldest in operational in South Africa, built in 1820s. The info I listened to mentioned that in the old days, they use to put a barrel of oil on top of the lighthouse so the ships at sea might see them at night. 

Green Point Lighthouse

Somerset Hospital

Hamleys? Oh no!

The Cape Wheel at V&A waterfront

The V&A waterfront was named after Queen Victoria and the A, instead of 'dear Albert' since they were in fact the royal couple, but in this case the honour goes to Alfred, the queen's son (had came here during his youth). FYI, the current royal house of England would use Albert's Saxe-Coburg and Gotha but had it changed to Windsor during WW1. 

This is the stop number 1. The Blue and Red HOHO line passes this place. It's from the waterfront that you get to Robben Island by boat. There's other attraction at the waterfront as well; The Two Oceans Aquarium, The Rugby Museum, The Chavonnes Battery Museum, Hamleys and Toy Kingdom..opppssss. Lots of things there. Food, crafts, paintings...shopping, you get the idea.

It was late in the evening and by now the room would certainly be ready for us. We alight at station number 5, infront of the main HOHO bus stop. Just a short walk pass the already close Green Market,  across the street and we're at the apartment's entrance. Nice.....day 2, bring it on!

Table Mountain and Lion's Head at dusk