Vacation in Cape Town

At the end of April, we joined Matt’s parents in Cape Town, South Africa. This was a much needed vacation for us and a great place for Marty and Mark to start their time in Africa. We spent a week in the “Mother City” and had a lot of fun. We stayed in the V&A Waterfront area, which was ideal because it is centrally located. The place we stayed at was beautiful and we are very thankful to Mark and Marty for treating us! Some of the highlights from our trip include hiking Table Mountain, seeing African penguins, touring Robben Island, learning some history at the District 6 Museum and shopping at the Old Biscuit Mill market.

The V & A Waterfront

We love to hike, but don’t have many opportunities to do so in Botswana. Our area is flat and there is always the risk of running into wildlife. We were very excited about climbing Table Mountain and took others’ advice about which trail to do. Matt and I started our hike at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The gardens were spectacular and we just loved being around so many beautiful plants. From there, we hiked up. To get to the top, you have to walk up stairs for about 45 minutes, then up ladders and over boulders. It was a challenge, especially since we haven’t hiked up any hills, let alone a mountain that is 3,588 ft high! It was a beautiful hike and the views from the top were amazing. 

Ladder up the mountain and a gorgeous Protea flowers on Table Mountain.

A nice trail near the top of Table Mountain.

The view from the top! Pictures don't do it justice, you feel like you are on top of the world.

We're above the clouds!

We hiked up and walked all the way across Table Mountain.

More Proteas. 

We also visited the Cape of Good Hope. We went through some really beautiful areas between Cape Town and Cape Point. It was fun to hike as far south as you can get in the African continent. It was rainy, but beautiful. We saw ostrich and eland by the beach. 

The point is all the way over there!

Ostrich by the sea...

At the Cape of Good Hope.

The sky was just beautiful and stormy!

A flock of Sacred Ibises

South Africa is home to the African Penguin. These penguins are only found in a small area in the southernmost areas of the African continent. We visited the penguins at Boulder Beach. They were so cute! I’m not going to lie, I did a lot of penguin impersonations and was like a little kid I was so excited to see them. The drive to Boulder Beach was beautiful and the beach itself was great - white sand, blue water and gorgeous big boulders. 

The beautiful view from our scenic drive.

SO MANY PENGUINS!

I'm pretty sure I named this one Frederick.

Frederick and me!

Another special and informative day was when we took a tour of Robben Island. This is where Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists were imprisoned. It was sobering, but very interesting. Our tour guide was one of the prisoners at Robben Island. He provided some interesting insights to what life was like at Robben Island. The boat ride to and from the island was pretty spectacular. You could see all of Cape Town.

The view from Robben Island.

Nelson Mandela's cell.

Matt and I spent a day by ourselves in Cape Town. We went to Long Street, the District Six Museum and BoKaap. Long Street is bustling with lots of street vendors and restaurants. We ate at a Kurdish place, which was really fun. We then walked to the District Six Museum, which was a very informative museum. District Six was razed by the apartheid government in the late 1960s because it was made into a “whites only” area of Cape Town. The museum had photos, letters, videos and other items to instill a sense of what District Six was like before it was destroyed. 

The bright houses in BoKaap.

The oldest mosque in Cape Town.

Marty, Matt and I went on a full day wine tour in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is a beautiful part of the Cape. We went to six different vineyards on the tour. Each was unique and beautiful. It was amazing to see how different our tastes were. We did agree on one wine though, a pinotage. Pinotages are only found in the Cape. Marty bought us a bottle to share. We are planning a fancy steak dinner to eat with our wine!

Stellenbosch is gorgeous!

Us at one of the vineyards.

They made us do this :)

 Back home, Matt and I enjoy good food and good beer. We try to support local farmers and producers as much as possible. The market at the Old Biscuit Mill was just our style. Local artists, brewers, farmers and other producers sell their products at this market. It was lovely to have a great meal and a pint of really good beer. I also wanted to do some shopping while I was there. I bought an obnoxiously large sun hat and a great purse made in South Africa. We also ran into some kombucha brewers and I found out I can make my ‘booch with Rooibos (bush) tea – that’s my next experiment.

Drinking some good, local beer at the market.

Overall, it was a great trip. We enjoyed seeing a different part of Africa, eating good food, sight-seeing and relaxing. We highly recommend a visit to Cape Town if you can manage it.