This leg of the journey was an after thought really, it seemed criminal to be so close, to have seen South Africa's other 2 natural wonders and not go to Cape Town for no. 3 We headed into the Joburg flight centre ( once again another great service from a young lady) and we were booked. 3 days and 3 nights staying at the Harbour Bridge Hotel. We bid our farewells to Lee-Ann and family as they all set of for school...(lee-Ann and Lauren came back and dropped us to the airport..thank you x) Early afternoon we arrived, jumped into our transfer ( it had arrived this time) and started to take in the enormity of the scenery. Wow and wow again, 1st impressions a city that appeared second to none, would this be the reality?? We arrived at our hotel and duly done what we always do.... Yep dropped off our bags and started to explore to get our bearings.... That's a little lie because the first thing I do when we check in is sit in the bath and imagine. This time I am surprised we left the room because it was a 4 star but 5 star by English standards. From the bath you could see the view, order food, watch TV and bake a cake ( I am lying about the baking cake bit though, you really should not use electrical equipment in the bath!! ) Evidently we were located right in the heart of the town with the city centre 5 mins one way and the docklands area ( bit like our docklands but mixed with a theme park / what I imagine to be an old New Orleans feel to it) 5 minutes the other. We headed into town, checked out the 'to dos', found an Irish pub, checked out the shops and had a wander through "the pink area". Immediately this city felt very different to any other part of Africa we had been to and we were a lot more relaxed. We then set off to the dockland area called the Victoria and Alfred ( not Albert but her son), words to sum up, chilled, vibrant, friendly, and cheap. Ironically this has been the cheapest part of Africa we have been to. A 3 course meal with bottle of wine £10 for 2 2 ( not that we are saving much reckon we give the same away in tips as we stare open mouthed at each bill)
We checked out the excursions and done some research and reckoned we could do a bit of everything over the following 2 days using their red city sightseeing tour bus and therefore saving a fortune so this is what happened....
Day 2 - we set off to the city sightseeing depot and bought our 2 day unlimited pass for £8. We jumped on the red route ( this is a circular route via table mountain, and the beaches of the Cape returning via the docks). We plugged in our earphones selected our language and observed and listened. We jumped off at the table mountain cable car unfortunately it was not running the winds were immense so we had a wander and jumped back on the next bus ( every 20 mins). Now the scenery cannot be described it was just Epic, we continued to follow the mountain and then started winding down until the coastal view opened up to us OMG we jumped off once again...... Idilic white sands and surf. We caught the next bus and then hopped off at the Cape Town stadium ( the iconic World Cup one) ready to hop onto the 2pm stadium tour........ We wandered round the fantastic gardens and the joined a group for the 1 hour tour.... Yep we touched the pitch, sat in the seats of the famous and some not so famous when we sat in the police cell underground! After we walked into the docklands area for a bit more people watching. The red route takes 90 mins to complete. We then jumped on the yellow bus 'the downtown tour.'......This took 45 mins to complete with so much historical information given and sites to see especially district 6 ( I am moved to tears just writing this and remembering) for those interested please google basically a whole neighbourhood removed so white people could create an all white town. #apartheid #shocking
Day 3 - this time we jumped on the blue route (the coastal bus) we jumped off and caught the purple route ( the wine tour route) we jumped off at the Groot Constantine vineyard and paid our £2 for cellar tour and wine tasting ( once again not drunk it was a whole £2). Once duly educated and slightly inebriated we jumped back on the purple to get to the blue....... The blue route had hop off points to walk the townships but this was just a bit too much (maybe next time). Once again we turned a road and the spectacular scenery changed into a bay with fishing boats we jumped off and realised we could go and see Seal Island. As we waited a young lad shouted seal, seal, auntie Sarah come and see as Louise was already there calling me. At this the boy proceeded to put fish in his mouth and fed the seal as it jumped up. Wow 1 hour later we had been on a boat with lots of Japanese tourists with ginormous cameras to see the seals out at sea! We jumped back on the blue bus home via docklands.
We left in the morning to get the flight to Joburg and then onto London before connection to Bangkok. However the memories of this place would keep us occupied. Unfortunately the wind stopped us getting to the top of table mountain or making it to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated and others, however this is a no brainier.....we will be going back... So far and maybe it is in part to a weak rand but seriously mountains, beaches, city, this is where I would want to live.........