Cape Town - the Mother of South Africa

April 17th

Cape Town - The Mother of South Africa

So, two days later we come into Cape Town.  We had a 3 day stay here and Cape Town turned out to be everything that Durban was not.   What a beautiful place!  Cape Town is a sprawling port town built on a peninsula and surrounded by mountainous terrain under the ever-imposing Table Mountain.  



This flat-topped mountain is a beacon in every direction.  From the city proper you look up and you get beautiful vistas of iconic mountain ranges.  You go up into those mountains and you look down and get even more beautiful views of the ocean and city.   Quite a magical place where no picture is bad.  Cape Town is often voted as one of the most desirable places to visit.





Most everyone knows the history here with the British, Nelson Mandello and Apartheid, so I won’t waste your time with my opinion.  Leave it to say that they are working on correcting past abuses and white privilege but I feel they still have a long way to go.  I can only hope that they can keep improving relations.   One problem I see is that there are so many political parties running for offices that no one party can get anything accomplished.  Ok, I’m done. 



Our first day trip we loaded up the bus and drove up to a town called Stellenbosch.  This is a great upscale young town with a large university, lots of wine and coffee shops and gorgeous art galleries.  






It is also in wine country where there are over 205 wineries nearby.  We had a tasting at a winery called Blauuwklippen, est. 1682.







Unfortunately, I should have kept drinking because they gave too much time in the town and we managed to find some things to spend money on.  We found a large carved wooden statue of the Big 5 and had to have it.   The Big 5 include an elephant a lion, the leopard, a water buffalo, and the rhino.  This carving stands about 4 foot tall and weighs a ton.  It is cut out of one piece of iron wood.  A very dense and heavy piece of wood.  Now if only the delivery goes well…..




Seems like I have made several purchases of various wooden animals.  By the time we get them all home and displayed I may have to open a small petting zoo of African wildlife!




Day 2 was a game reserve called "Aquila".  It gets its own blog entry next! You're going to love the animals!  Stay tuned.

Day 3 was a scenic drive along the spectacular coast and up to Chapman’s peak.  Man, what a beautiful drive!  But make sure you keep the wheels in between the painted lines.   Not much of a shoulder and it would be a long way down.  Buses can only go one way due to the narrow path.  







On the other side we went back to the coast where we made a stop at Boulder’s Beach where we went to watch the South African penguins play in the frigid waters and sun on the rocky shores.










Overall opinion of Cape Town is that we liked it.  While it doesn't paint a true picture of all of South Africa, we would definitely come back. 



Join us as we make our way up the West coast to Namibia.

Thanks for following us!








Vi and LeRoy

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

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