Wednesday 5 August 2015

Our Trip to South Africa (Part 1)


This trip of ours required a lot of planning. We had three weeks at our disposal and were pretty sure we wanted to do South Africa, since the kids would enjoy seeing animals and birds in the wild.

We escaped the summer in Dubai and took on a cold winter and rain in South Africa. We needed to be well prepared with winter clothes a.k.a layers, caps, gloves, thermals. Not to forget, the rain ponchos too.

We took the Emirates Flight from Dubai to Cape Town and landed at about 5 in the evening. It was dark when we did, and could not see the city at all. We were staying at the Waterfront Village Apartments. They sent a mini van to pick us up and take us to the apartment. The two-bedroom place for a four day stay was really lovely. I fell in love with the open kitchen and utility area. The boys enjoyed their room and we enjoyed ours. We saw the lovely sunrise at 5:30, the next morning. A beautiful orange hue to the sky, the apartments, the canal, the giant wheel, made for a nice view from the apartment. But it was very very cold. Google weather reported 5 degrees in Capetown and 50 degrees in Dubai.

                                          




We took a walk to The Watershed nearby and had some breakfast at Cooked, then took the Big Red Bus to look around the city. It gave us the option of hopping on and off anytime over the next two days, across many routes. We first headed to the Table Mountains to see the lovely view from the top. The bus took us to the entrance where we picked up tickets to go up the mountains in a cable car (which rotates, so you get 360 deg view). There was also the option to do a 2-hour hike up the mountain, but we avoided it since the kids would not have been able to manage that.

We spent close to 2 hours drinking in the view of the city, the seas, and the mountain range, and the clouds that form the tablecloth. We also had a picnic lunch up there.





We then headed out to Camps Bay for an easy evening and watched the sunset over the sea while the Table Mountains stood behind us. The sand here is almost white, something we had never seen before. We saw dogs being allowed at the beach so it was a lovely sight to see families with kids and dogs having a lovely time. My boys enjoyed running around too, when I got busy clicking pictures.





We then wanted to have some Italian for dinner close to our apartment, so we decided to try the Waterfront Mall and enjoyed a very tasty authentic dinner (the place was full) with wine at Primi Piatti. The next morning, after a light breakfast in the apartment, we took the bus to explore the streets of Capetown.

We spent some time taking pictures of the Market place and the Church behind Long Street, and broke for some good lunch at King's Cafe. Next, we were on the bus that took us to the Vineyards. It was drizzling all the time, and we did not get off the bus at all. But the drive up the mountains, past the Bird Park and the Botanical Garden, through two vineyards, was beautiful. The view of the sea from atop the mountains was lovely; so were the winding roads dotted with old colonial houses. We moved on to the historical tour and saw a different side of the old city which was beautiful with its less crowded roads, churches, the castle, and old buildings.




We then headed to the Mariner’s Wharf and had some fresh fish and chips. The place was crowded and we were asked to be careful with our bags, cameras, phones etc. The leftover fries were promptly shared with the sea gulls. Although I am quite unhappy that they got to eat junk-food, they seemed to be quite used to it and were waiting in flocks for the fries.





Our last ride on the bus took us back to our apartment, where we saw the sunset from the sit-out and went to bed early. 9am the next day, we had our guide pick us up and take us to Stellenbosch for our wine tasting tour. We passed green green green farms, saw lots of farm animals, including ostriches, zebras and some steenboks.





Our first stop was at Fairview, where we tasted some wine and cheese, and picked up some cheese, spices from their store. Second stop was at Warwick, that gave us lovely wine and the story of the marriage cup. (The husband drinks wine from the cup that is the figurine’s skirt and the wife from the cup that the figurine seems to be holding up. When the husband tips the wine into his mouth the other cup tilts towards the wife's mouth. The one who finishes first dominates the marriage. No prizes for guessing which one!!)




We did go for some yummy pizza lunch at Col Cacchio after this, where we took a break. Our last stop was at Waterford, to taste some good wine with chocolates, plucked some tangerines from their trees and spent some time in their winery, bottling and labeling factory.












We drove back to Capetown, saw some flamingos on the way, and through some heavy traffic that was returning to Capetown, reached the apartment early enough to pack up and get set to leave on the Garden Route.



Garden Route:

We woke up early next morning and after a quick breakfast in the apartment, left to Bidvest Car Rentals to pick up our car that would take us through the garden route over the next 9 exciting days. 

We went straight to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. We saw more farms, greenery, mountains and the ocean on our way, and finally reached the spot. We saw hundreds of cormorants, lot of kelp (sea weed) and some ostriches closer to the cape. We also saw the lighthouse from the cape point but did not want to spend too much time climbing up to it, since we wanted to head to Hermanus before sunset.












On our way to Hermanus, we passed the small but busy Simon’s Town, where we saw lots of surfers in the sea, a huge flock of gulls. We then went to Boulder's Beach and walked up the boardwalk to enjoy our first sighting of penguins; they were swimming, dawdling, feeding their chicks, and sitting on their eggs in their small burrows.







Kids were quite excited. We had a lovely sandwich at Coffee Terrace (not listed on Zomato), near here in Simon’s Town before we drove to Hermanus.  

The drive was lovely and we made it just beyond sunset. Our lovely hosts (Leslie, John and their friendly dog) at Aloe Guest House were waiting for us. With their warm smiles, they showed us around the house and took us to our family room which was right at the back in a private space with its own pool, and braai. The bathroom walls were made of glass, looking out into a small patch of a green garden and a high wall providing enough privacy. Our first experience in a home-stay setup and we loved it already. They recommended we go to Fabio's for some yummy hot Italian dinner and some great wine, just about 2 mins from the guest house. 

We were happy to get back and hit the sack after a long day. Next morning was our drive to the much awaited activity. 








1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a good start to your holiday. Some familiar places visited.

    ReplyDelete