Cape Town (2):another cousin and the hop on, hop off bus

We had arranged to meet Michael, the son of Georgina and Michael on Wednesday morning. Michael and a friend have been running the enterprise Honest Chocolate for about 18 months. Our nearest shop is in Wale Street in that is clearly a trendy area: a new Paul Smith shop is next door. Their second shop, where they make the chocolates, is a couple of miles away in the Woodstock area.


We were just buying our chocolates to take back to Europe when Michael arrived. Georgina had let us taste Michael's chocolate when we were in the Drakensberg Mountains.




Honest chocolate is made without sugar or milk, so probably not for milk chocolate fans. We like our chocolate strong and dark so it is ideal for us! Having expanded into a second larger shop, business must be good. They also supply chocolates to many other outlets.

We went out for a coffee and John and Michael talked family history while Pat blogged. Here we all are in the shop.





We decided that we would spend the rest of the day on the hop on, hop off bus to get our bearings. We headed for the St George's stop, passing various sites that we have on the Sunday agenda.

The bus stop was next to St George's Cathedral




St George's Street is a busy shopping street and one of the two traffic free streets in Cape Town.




There were some interesting old building opposite the bus stop.




The inside section of the bus - we were outside.





District 6 was a thorn in the side of the Apartheid Regime. It was a multiracial area and proud of it. The Regime's extreme solution was to send in the bulldozers. This crass act caused great international outrage. There was a stated intention to rebuild, but only a few houses were every constructed and these are they - the political problems of finding a solution equitable to all is all but impossible.





The tour took us past the Castle of Good Hope, a fortification near the docks from the 17th century.





The Gold museum





The bus staggered up the hill to the Table mountain cable car station and parked for a few minutes so that passengers could visit the facilities. Table Mountain was covered in cloud which was sweeping over the top and down the side.





After the pit stop we headed down windy roads to Camps Bay on the west coast.








This shows the other side of Table Mountain - the buttresses are known as the 12 Apostles, there are rather more (in the Australian version, there are fewer - it probably averages out!)


These windy roads are good fun on an open top bus.



Camps Bay where we left the bus for lunch




The sand is almost white here, there were good breakers and the air was full of spray and the smell of seaweed. The town is said to be a haunt for the rich and famous and was certainly very smart.











A panorama from the beach showing the Lion's Head mountain, Table Mountain and the 12 Apostles.



We waited for the next bus (they run every 15 minutes) and went through, Bantry Bay, Sea Point and Green Point which were rather built up with multi story apartment blocks. Apparently estate agents claim this to be a wind free zone, but the pines tell another story.





Past the Green point lighthouse






Through the V&A waterfront which we had already visited and nearby, the pretty Somerset hospital





Then we left the bus to return to our apartment crossing over the Cape Town traffic. The bus tour had been very well organised with good clear commentaries and we learned many useful things like, how they came to build the three monstrous tower blocks on Table Mountain and what the locals mean when they say " turn left at the first robot". This was immediately put to use then we asked for directions to the nearest Vodacom mobile phone shop.





In the evening, we ate in the 'french' restaurant in the apartment block.




Pat and John on tour

Cape Town (1)

Our first day in Cape Town dawned cloudy, so we thought that this was not the day for Table Mountain. Outside our apartment, the children were going into school.




While we were eating breakfast, the cloud started to clear and a web cam showed that the top of the mountain was visible.

The view from our terrace when we got up.




We rushed out to the mountain and parked along the side of the road as indicated by the self appointed car watcher and parking attendant. It is quite common in South Africa that people make a living by car watching and relying on tips.
We were early enough that there was only a short queue for tickets and we were able to get straight on to the cable car. There were good views over the city.












We noticed a little bit of cloud appearing over the mountain.




The cable car has an interesting feature: the car is glassed in, but two panels are empty. The windows rotate when the car is in motion, so that everyone has a chance to take photos. As we went up the mountain, the cloud started to descend.








But there were still interesting pictures to be had. This is Lion head Hill.
















We decided to have a cup of tea while waiting for the cloud to disappear.
There was no marked improvement, so we followed the pathway. As the name indicates, the top of the mountain is relatively flat and there is plenty of space to walk around.
This is a starling like bird with red under the wings. The birds were relatively tame.




The flora is also interesting
















Views around the top








Lichen on the boulders












On our way back to the cable car, we saw some Dassies, safely on the rocks beneath us.




In the afternoon, we went down the the Victoria and Alfred waterfront, part of the former docks. Alfred was the second son of Queen Victoria. The waterfront has lots of upmarket housing, a marina, restaurants and shopping.
























We did a little shopping and bought tickets for a trip to Robben Island on Saturday.
In the evening, we picked up a 'homemade' ready meal from the local Spar and relaxed over a glass of wine.
Pat and John on tour