Weekend 2: Cape Town

For weekend 2 of my trip, I headed to Cape Town! People here seem to LOVE Cape Town, and talk about it almost reverently, so I was very excited to see what all the fuss was about. I set off on Friday evening after work with Pablo and Raghav, another volunteer who lives in the guest house with us.

We took the Gautrain to the airport, which is the lovely suburban train system in Gauteng (the province that Pretoria and Johannesburg are in) to catch our 9PM flight. The train itself was yet another jarring example of the first/third world dichotomy here – it reminded me of a combination of the DC Metro (huge platforms that are airy and clean) and the London Tube (blue patterned carpeting on the seats & floor and cheerful yellow poles to hold onto). Just as I was wishing that we had public transit that nice in NYC, we zipped past one of South Africa’s many “townships” (the accepted name for the sprawling shantytowns) and I was reminded once again that despite the progress that’s been made here, there’s still so much left to be done.

We caught our flight with time to spare, and we were served a full dinner on the 1 hour and 45 minute domestic flight! Oh, domestic US airlines, how lame you've gotten. Also, I feel that it’s important to note that I packed significantly less than the 2 guys I was travelling with for this weekend. Go me.

View from our home for the weekend

We arrived in Cape Town around 11PM, got our rental car, and made the 30-minute drive down to Kalk Bay, which is a small fishing village along the coast of False Bay, just outside of the city center of Cape Town. The reason we weren’t staying right in town was that my supervisor (of sorts) here, Hasina, had kindly offered her holiday home there to us for the weekend, and we happily took her up on the offer! Her apartment was in a complex set just off of the ocean, and you could hear the waves crashing from the bedrooms and see the ocean from the back deck. It was a great place to stay for the weekend. We all had plans to get up early, and by this time it was after 1AM, so we called it a night.

The next morning, Pablo headed off to scuba dive (which apparently was still freezing despite 2 wetsuits), and Raghav and I made the 40-minute drive down the coast to see the sunrise Cape Point, which is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. After a short hike up to the lighthouse at the top of the point, we tried to stay warm and awaited the sun. It was a pretty spectacular sunrise, despite a few clouds. And you can literally see where the two oceans meet! There was like a frothy white line in the water where the two currents move against each other.

Cape Point - see that little wine line in front?

Sunrise at Cape Point

So far from home!

Back side of the Cape of Good Hope,
as seen from the Western part of Cape Point

After a few hundred photos, we headed back down to the car to warm up and make the short drive to the Cape of Good Hope – the most southwestern point in all of Africa. This was a less spectacular view, as it just looked like a rocky shoreline with some intimidatingly large waves, but was still cool to know that I was standing on the very edge of a continent. The Cape of Good Hope is in the same nature reserve as Cape Point, and on the drive back out we saw quite a few ostriches and a rare Bontebok antelope! My first real “game” sightings in Africa.

Straight chillin' on the Cape of Good Hope

Hello, Bontebok antelope

Ostrich crossing

Harbor at Simon's Town

By now we were in need of breakfast, so we drove back up the coast to Simon's Town, another absolutely adorable fishing village (there are quite a few that dot the cost back up to Cape Town proper), for breakfast, coffee, and some bargaining with vendors in a little pop-up market in the square. Next stop on the self-tour was Boulder Beach in Simon's Town, famous for their African penguins! Despite the fact that some very cold rain started coming down, I was absolutely loving watching these little guys hang out with their friends and waddle back and forth from the water to the beach. Penguins are just amazing. While I have seen pictures of people actually playing with these little dudes, we were relegated to a boardwalk that was built on the beach for viewing them. Which is probably a good thing, as I was starting to contemplate what Delta and US Customs might say if I came back with an African penguin in my carry-on luggage.

One room of many in the Pan African Market

Penguin craving satisfied, we headed up to the city of Cape Town, about a 30-minute drive. We parked near Long Street, a popular shopping/restaurant/bar area, and walked into Greenmarket Square, where an interesting-but-touristy market was going on, though the rain continued. We each picked up a few trinkets for friends and family back home, and then checked out the Pan African market, which was essentially a 3-story house with one vendor set up in each room. The offerings were overwhelming but seemed to be a bit more authentic, so we spent a good hour exploring.

Artisinal food market at the Waterfront

Seafood extravaganza

From there, we drove to the V&A Waterfront, which reminded me a bit of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco – very touristy but still fun to wander around. Unfortunately the rain wasn’t letting up (apparently Cape Town is notorious for crappy weekend weather in the winter), so we wandered outside briefly before ducking into yet another market. This one was the most touristy yet, but led us to a fun surprise – an artisanal food market! It reminded me so much of Chelsea Market and Smorgasburg in NYC. Vendors with artsy little signs and clever names, delicious smells and live music from a piano player upstairs. We wandered around tasting everything (including biltong, a South African staple, which essentially tastes like fresher beef jerky to me), before settling on some gourmet samosas and a huge plate of seafood.

Once we were properly full, we drove back down to meet Pablo at the apartment in Kalk Bay. We relaxed for a bit, freshened up for dinner, and hopped back in the car, ready for Saturday night in Cape Town. Happy hour doesn’t seem to be as popular here as it is in the States, but we did manage to find one place offering it (which meant we were drinking nice mojitos for the equivalent of about $1.75). We then went for dinner at a restaurant called Carne, which had been recommended to me by a friend, and was delicious (the type of steak restaurant where you actually get to pick your cut of beef before they cook it). And we spent the rest of the evening bar hopping up and down Long Street, which reminded me a lot of the big squares in Amsterdam – tons of backpacker hostels sandwiched between all different types of bars and clubs. As you might be realizing, Cape Town is like no other part of South Africa. It’s very Western European, and therefore felt much more familiar to me than anywhere else I’ve visited since I’ve been here.

Choosing prime rib at Carne

Long Street

The next morning, Pablo had planned to go cage diving with the Great Whites, and Raghav and I were scheduled to go paragliding off of Lion’s Head (another mountain adjacent to the famous Table Mountain), but unfortunately both activities were cancelled due to weather. To me, it was cool, sunny and generally lovely outside, but I guess the seas were a bit rough and it was pretty windy on the mountains. So as a backup, we wanted to take the popular rotating cable car up to the top of Table Mountain (since so many people had told me it was a “must-see”), but even that was closed – on both days of the weekend! Lesson learned – if you want to do adventure activities in Cape Town, stay for a week so you can be flexible about when you go, or just go in the summer when the weather is more reliable.

The good news is that I got to have an amazing breakfast instead, at a popular (and packed) little café in Kalk Bay called Olympia. It was warm and bustling and cozy, and I thoroughly enjoyed my ham and cheese baked croissant while watching the colorful fishing boats come in and out of their docks. After breakfast we wandered into the little shops and markets on Main Road, and met the driver for our wine tour outside of the apartment at 12:30. And we set off for the Stellenbosch wine region!

Driving to Stellenbosch

It was about a 30-minute drive around the top of False Bay (seemingly endless beaches and huge pounding waves) to “wine country,” which looked similar to Napa Valley, plus huge dramatic mountains all around. Pretty spectacular views, and it’s a huge region – over 600 wine estates in 200 square km of land. On the way, we also passed Khayelitsha, the second-largest township in South Africa, which was overwhelmingly huge. The rows of little one-room tin-walled houses seemed to go on forever - it stretches over about 17 square miles. Again, a sobering sight while doing something like traveling (with a driver) to a wine tour.

Lunch at Neethlingshof

We started our tour at Neethlingshof, one of the oldest wineries in Stellenbosch (the oldest is over 300 years old). It was peaceful and very Dutch-looking. We had a nice lunch and then did a tasting, where I tried an amazing red called Owl Post that sadly is not for sale in the US and would have cost me approximately a million dollars to ship. It’s a Pinotage, which is an exclusively South African varietal that’s a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut/Hermitage.

View from the entrance to Delaire Graff

Our second stop was the Delaire Graff Estate, one of the newer vineyards and tasting centers in the area. The view was absolutely breathtaking, and the hotel/restaurant/tasting room itself was also amazing – modern but inviting, seemed like an awesome place for a wedding or vacation. They’re known for their rose and “Coastal Cuvee” Sauvignon blanc, both of which were great. Unfortunately most wineries close early on Sunday, so the next few we tried to visit were already closed, and we just ended up heading back to Kalk Bay, but it was fun afternoon exploring the area nonetheless.

“Sundowners” are hugely popular in South Africa, and to my understanding this is basically just the act of having cocktails at sundown, so we stopped in a funky little beach bar near the apartment called Cape to Cuba (again with the dirt-cheap drinks) for "sundowners" around a little fire pit. By this point we were in need of food again, and hadn’t quite reached our seafood quota, so we walked to a restaurant called the Harbour House right by where the fishing boats dock. Harbour House looked nice (very Hamptons-esque), but we were more intrigued by a little tapas restaurant underneath it called Polana. This was mainly due to the front windows – the restaurant is built almost in the ocean, and at night there are spotlights down on the waves that break on the rocks just a few feet in front of the windows. So from the inside, you basically spend the entire meal watching these HUGE waves crash and spray (seemingly) almost on your table. It was pretty incredible.

Waves crashing outside of Polana during dinner

From there, we made the surprisingly responsible decision to just call it a night, since we were getting  up at 3:30AM on Monday to catch a very early flight back to Joburg. All in all, a great weekend exploring a great city. I’d love to go back again – I feel like there was so much that I didn’t get to do!

Sidenote: last night, I got to experience my very first South African braai (which I think is basically just a barbecue) in honor of Pablo’s 28^th birthday. We had a bunch of CHAI people over to the guest house and grilled up some delicious sausages, steak and “veg,” despite the near-freezing temperatures. And his parents sent a pretty epic cake from Mexico. Solid way to kick off my third week here!

Trying to stay warm on the guest house deck

Pablo and his cake