African artwork
Buying handicrafts and jewelry at Hout Bay, Capetown
The girls at Alta Bay (*tear* we miss this place)
Two boys singing an African tune (check my other blog entry for a video)
Stretching (drunk) with a statue at Seidelberg Winery
Me on top of Table Mountain
Finally getting fresh Tuna (at Cafe Royal on Long Street)
The crew at Simonsig Winery
Anna, Me, Stacy and Joel overlooking Cape of Good Hope
Penguins at Boulders Bay, SO CUTE!We left for South Africa ("SA") on Thursday, had a flight to Mumbai with a 7 hour layover; we killed time shopping at Phoenix Mill mall and had dinner at the Spaghetti factory. Found a super cute store to spend the last of my rupees. Flew South African Airways to Johannesburg (Jo'Burg) at 2am. It kinda freaked us out because they sprayed lysol at the beginning of the plane -- hopefully it wasn't because we smelled, haha. SAA provided us with free socks and eyemasks and we used them to knock out for the 9 hour flight. The Jo'Burg airport is really nice, big and open and filled with travelers from all over. There we took a connecting flight to Capetown and we all instantly fell in love.
Capetown is BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely gorgeous all over. I told Anna, Stacy and Joel that I had imagined SA to have lots of white buildings and green trees and I was right! I felt like I walked into a movie set; the city felt clean and the air was crisp. We made our way first to Alta Bay, a boutique guest house on the top of a hill that overlooked the Capetown coast. The management team was so friendly upon our arrival: Jacco (pronounced Yacco), Ariel and Ms. Viona. It was funny because intially Stacy pronounced Jacco "Jack-o" and we kept laughing about it the entire trip.
After settling in we headed down to Long Street, a vintage street in central Capetown housing a bunch of restaurants and shops. We had lunch at Cafe Royal where Anna, Joel and Stacy enjoyed their first beef burger since who knows how long (remember beef is forbidden in India because the cow is considered holy.) I had tuna which is also rare in India. After lunch we went to the famous Table Mountain which overlooks the entire city, truly amazing. The pictures we took up there looked unreal! We kept joking that it looked like a Sears photo shoot :) For more info on Table Mountain click here.
From Table Mountain we headed to the Waterfront (area alongside the water with posh restaurants and shops.) We ate at Belthazar which is acclaimed to have the best steak and seafood in town. Our waiter did well upselling us on the food, he had the funniest game show host voice, we were cracking up inside. Back at the night we were closing down for bed (all of us super exhausted from the long day) and the water pipe burst in our room! I was trying to hold the pipe in to prevent the water from spraying everywhere and I got SOAKED! Anna and I called Jacco and he moved us immediately to the Loft Suite. Not a bad trade, it was a funny experience getting there.
Saturday morning Stacy and I ran to a reservoir. Remember I told you that Alta Bay was on a hill, well that hill was a steep one. Going to the reservoir was easy because it was downhill but heading up it was like climbing "Mt. Never-Rest!" Our calves hurt for 3 days! After the run we went on a wine tour. We were accompanied by our tour guide, Fluis, and 5 backpackers from the UK and Dublin. They were all world class travelers, starting in Africa and making their way across Asia and Australia. We had a lot of fun, went to 4 different wineries -- Durbanville Hills, a Company of Wine People, Simonsig and Seidelberg. Between each winery we drank bottles in the car and sang to The Killers "Mr. Brightside." You can see the fun we had in my pictures :) We had our first sighting of wild animals on the tour: ostriches and zebras. Funny story -- one of the backpackers, Steve, showed us a video of him in a shark cage. In haste, Joel said he would rather eat Paneer (some awful tasting cheese in India) than swim with sharks. I learned some cool things from the backpackers, like what a "shandy" is (7up mixed with lager or beer.) It's great meeting people from all over, you learn so much about how people from different places think and see the world.
For dinner we ate at the Africa Cafe, where we had family style African food. The menu was painted on a vase, including delicacies like coconut fish, spicy chicken, carrot relish, pumpkin dumplings and much more! The staff also entertained us with singing and dancing. We all felt like we finally got our feet wet in African culture.
Sunday we went on a full day tour of Capetown. Lead by our tour guide, Ian, we first went to Hout Bay where Joel, Stacy and Anna first took a ferry to see sea otters. I stayed behind to shop b/c I didn't want to get sea sick. Bought a beautiful painting from a local and some other traditional handicrafts. After we had fish and chips at a popular restaurant on the warf of Hout Bay which felt very Pier 39-ish. After we drove down to Boulders Bay to see penguins! I was literally 3 inches away from some of the penguins. They're super cute and I love the way they waddle. After Boulders we went to Cape of Good Hope where we stood at the most south-western point on the African continent. We saw some baboons there, and Ian told us that baboons can be really aggressive. He was telling us that one time he saw two baboons mating in the back of someone's car and they wouldn't get out! Another time he saw a baboon steal a Coke can from a tourist and opened it. Monkeys sure are smart!
Had dinner at Balducci's where I tickled my taste buds with seared tuna and sashimi salad. It was a nice way to end our trip in Capetown.
Picture Link:
Click Me
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Fun South Africa Facts:
- Population: 45 million
- 11 major languages, English and Africaans are the most popular
- Major producers of gold, diamonds, platinum
- Apartheid: 1948-1986