CapeTown, South Africa 5/27/24
Cape Town, South Africa
This was our welcome into the port of Cape Town, South Africa. First time a tug led us in with water cascading ahead of us. And wonderful rainbows. Great views of Table Mountain. Cape Town is the capital city of South Africa, and rumors have implied that they would like to separate from South Africa. We have 2 days in this city. Our first day was a trip into the wharf area, which is quite commercialized and really well developed. We took a leisurely stroll admiring all of the sights, artwork and stores. A nice lunch on the waterfront, and then back to the ship for a Royal sponsored "escape" to a local winery.
Artwork along the way to Victoria's Wharf, about a 15-minute walk.
If only I could have brought this stone owl home!
At the African Trading Company, we found a much larger version of my Bathing Sheba by Gregory Mutasa. We purchased her in Bermuda about 20 years ago when he was an up-and-coming young artist and he has grown quite famous in those 20 years.
One of the additional "perks" royal has provided the full world cruisers are their Escapes. The first was a winery in Montevideo, Uruguay, the second in Taiwan, and this is the third of four. We went to the Groot Constantia Winery, established in 1685, a testament to their love of wines. The grounds were lovely with spectacular views - As we entered into the winery, we drove by the vineyards surrounded by mountain ranges as a backdrop.
We were greeted by lovely lords and ladies in period costumes that were all around the grounds. If we had known it was a formal event, we may have dressed a bit more appropriately, LOL.
Very pastoral, with ducks in the ponds, sprawling vineyards, and beautiful flower arrangements in the main hall.
Small string orchestra entertained us as we wandered the halls and admired the locale, of course, eagerly awaiting our wine tasting experience. The prelude to that event was building up our expectations of an unforgettable evening.
Alas, the wines were not that great, and the variety was lacking. While they kept filling our glasses, no one was partaking that much. Based on previous experience, the food offerings on the escapes have been quite good, and these were good, but they ran out and there was not much of a variety of food offering, and we were there at 6 - 7 pm. Now, this is a cruise ship group, used to being fed in huge quantities, needless to say, this was a disappointment compared to what we had been experiencing. Another surprise was that there was no opportunity to purchase any of the wines that we were served, and no explanation of how the wines were cultivated, food pairings, etc. Very different from wine tastings we are used to.
This was the oldest part of the winery and was the main home. Rooms very spacious and ceilings quite high. There is history around Kings and Emperors who were clients of the winery in year past. A nice glimpse into history for us.
Since we really did not have much to eat, and we were hungry, when we got back to the ship, we went back to Victoria's Wharf for a nice dinner with our friends John and Mary Ann. And for some reason, not one of us took any pictures of the restaurant, our dinner, or our drinks! I can tell you it was great seafood, and we have a very enjoyable evening to finish up our first day in Cape Town.
Our second day, we were very fortunate to have a local couple as our tour guides. Karen and Shel's son in law's parents live in Cape Town and graciously offered to show off their hometown for us. We started out at 6:30 am, as many of the sights we wanted to see were a bit of a drive from the port and we wanted to beat the large tour groups to the various spots. The sunrise as we headed to our first stop.
We stopped here to enjoy the waters crashing against the rocks and observing some of the architecture along the way.
First stop was just outside the naval base in Simon's town and was established in 1743 by the Dutch East India Company. We were able to watch the sun come up over the fleet and ships in the bay. There is a small museum here (but was closed this early in the morning), and there were local vendors already setting up their wares in the square - tour groups would be on their way later in the morning.
With our very early start, we headed to the Boulders. We learned to appreciate Clive and Charmagne suggesting such an early start as we were one of the first groups here and had the park to ourselves for a while. Like dolphins, you could watch these penguins all day long. Very different than the penguins in Antartica and Ushuaia but entertaining all the same. The gate Mickey is standing by is made of whale jaw bones, since 1898, reminiscent of the importance of the whaling industry at the time. It has since been replaced from a whale corpse that washed up on shore in 2015. Some of the original fragments remain, along with some vertebrae.
The scenery around the lighthouse was stunning, so I took pictures while Mickey hiked up to the top.
These photos are looking straight down to the water, the lower right is a side shot of the mountain that the lighthouse stands on. again, our timing was impeccable, as we were leaving 5 big Royal tour busses pulled up - safe from the crowds again.
Obligatory group picture at the most south-western point of the African continent.
Lots of ostriches - who'd a thought?
The scenery is absolutely breathtaking around Cape Town, and when you think you've seen it all, our hosts take us to another remarkable spot - and provide a picnic lunch, including wine and beer. Doesn't get much better than that. Here we are at the picture frame for Chapman Peak. No worries for big groups - the tours don't come here. Getting to this spot was like driving the Pacific Coast Highway, right along the coastline.
We found our new Karen and Doug. It's Karen and Shel!!
And now off to Table Mountain, which is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town. You can take a cable car to the top, or hike if you are so inclined. The cable car was one of the steepest I have ever been on, and what was interesting, is the floor rotated around on the way up (and down) so everyone got great views as we headed to the peak. If you were right by the glass, it was a bit unnerving to look down.
Views from the top, remarkable, and we were there in the late afternoon so wonderful lighting. The picture in the lower left is Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandla was held from 1964 to 1982, from there he went to Pollsmoor until 1988 when he was again transferred to Verster Prison until his release in 1990. That's 27 years for his stand on apartheid.
From there, we went to a local crafts market and picked up a few souvenirs and Mickey bought some alcohol - I think we will be opening an international liquor store at the rate we are going... One last stop at the Cape Town sign, and then rushed back to the ship.
An unbelievable day in Cape Town, that we would never have enjoyed on a mega tour, so thank you so much to Clive and Charmagne. They have a career ahead of them if they want....This i a city we would come back to, as I believe we just saw a bit of it. Cape Town is having its political challenges as we all do - big election coming up after we left. The controlling party appears to be losing its grip and the people are fed up with them. We did find out that the incumbent party lost, so will be interesting to see what reforms happen. Our hosts told us a lot of corruption in the capital.
Cruising tomorrow and on to Luderitz, Namibia
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