Cape Town, SA

Brianne and my footsteps in the sand at sunset cliffs beach, Southern Cape, SA.

Penguins dot the landscape at Boulders Beach, Southern Cape, SA.

The view of modern day downtown Cape Town, SA with Table Mountain in the backround from our 15th story studio.

Cape Town at night from Lion's Head.

A craft beer and appetizer sampling.

Pleasantly surprised by the Cape Town craft beer scene.

The Neighborgoods Market, Cape Town, SA

Large community table at the Neighborgoods Market.

Some wears at the Neighborgoods Market.

Some delicious looking break at the Neighborgoods Market.

Fresh cut flowers at the Neighborgoods Market.

Sunset from the top of Lion's Head, Cape Town, SA.

The rock quarry where Robben Island prisoners hand crushed rocks for roads. The cairn in the middle was constructed by former prisoners, led by Nelson Mandele, of the island during their 1995 reunion.

A former political prisoner explains how their meals were different depending on their race to add racial tension to the prison. 

Intermittent rocky and sandy beaches line the coastline, Southern Cape, SA.

Cape of Good Hope, Southern Cape, SA

Sunset Cliffs Beach, Southern Cape, SA.

The rocky beaches of Southern Cape, SA.

Sunset on Sunset Cliffs Beach, Southern Cape, SA

Our trusty, if small steed during our time in SA.


It may not look like much, but this noble beast was indispensable for getting us around SA.

Another sunset shot. Southern Cape, SA.

Moreson winery, Northern Cape, SA. We spend several hours looking for the Bread and Wine grocer, which is connected to this winery, only to discover that it was closed for renovations. 

Succulents grow like weeds in SA wine country.

Welbedacht Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, SA.

The plunge pool was very inviting after a morning hike. Weldebacht Nature Reserve, SA.

The braii at our cottage in Weldebacht Nature Reserve, SA.

A shot of the really nice, if not touristy V&A wharf. Cape Town, SA.

A local group bangs out a beat at the V&A Wharf, Cape Town, SA

A long ways from home, V&A Wharf, Cape Town, SA.

Airstream park and bar above Grand Daddy hotel, downtown Cape Town, SA.

This airstream park sat 6 stories above town.

North from Antarctica (because what other way can you head from Antartica?) the junction of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans relents as craggy peaks rise and form the southern tip of Africa. For tens of thousands of years, penguins, turtles and birds were the main inhabitants besides the occasional nomadic, indigenous group adding harvested oysters, mussels and clams to their diets. Major shipping traffic commenced at the beginning of the 17th century as the Dutch East India Trading Company began making frequent trips to South Asia for salt and spices. The Cape of Good Hope was the most important benchmark for sailors as they made the long journey from Europe down and around Africa and then on to different Indian Ocean destinations. Soon, the Dutch and other Europeans began to settle the area, making permanent colonies.

Cape Town’s history has been turbulent, to say the least. Southern Africa followed the same formula as almost every other African region: Europeans came, “claimed” the land for the country/queen, promised local chiefs that they’d be friendly, and then took control of resources, government and the prime living areas. However, Cape Town is unfortunately unique when it comes to the injustices committed on this continent. It was a major slave trade hub, where thousands of Africans, south asians and others were brought to be sold into slavery in Africa or to other slave traders who moved them into Europe and eventually the Americas. We visited a museum in a building downtown, which was one of the first buildings built in Cape Town, named the “Slave Lodge.” Thousands of slaves were kept in limbo here waiting to be sold and moved and if they weren't sold many of them died in the wretched living conditions.

Furthermore, fierce South African apartheid lasted a ridiculous time longer than in other African nations. South Africa literally became a safe harbour for other white African apartheid supporters and garnered negative world wide attention for the injustices committed. It wasn’t until the 11th of February, 1990 that the future South African president and great reconciler Nelson Mandela and the majority of his fellow activists were finally released from political prison. 1990. The effects of this amount of marginalization and division are still very prevalent in the highly heterogeneous “Rainbow Nation.”

And yet, the world spins madly on. Cape Town today is a vibrant city of 4 million people that boasts natural wonders aplenty and is the only place in Africa with hipsters. Real life hipsters. We saw lots of them. The fallout from apartheid is still very real in this city where most of the crime and poverty exists in circumcity slums, however, Cape Town is making some effort to own their turbulent past and embrace all the myriad cultures and people and in places where this is happening, it’s awesome.

Our trip to Africa has been mainly centered on seeing Chris and Courtney in Zambia and seeing Steve, Lindsey, and Mabel in Rwanda. It sort of just happened as the plans came together that we had an extra week to spend in South Africa before meeting up with Chris and Courtney at Victoria Falls. And as a result, we sort of went on a whim to Cape Town without much planning or research. I’m embarrassed to say that I imagined Cape Town as a small city on the coast where tourism was pretty much the only thing happening. I was quite a far cry off.

The food in Cape Town was ridiculous. We consistently ate incredibly good international food including Ethiopian, Italian, charcuterie, Indian, Greek, Halaal, wild game, Thai, stone fired pizza, BBQ, and sushi. With the exception of the sushi (we had to eat at “Mr. Lin’s Thai and Sushi late one night because we didn’t get back from our hike till late) everything was really top notch. Our favorite breakfast/lunch spot was Saucisse Deli, where we had amazing cured meats and cheeses multiple times. We even got lucky and scored reservations at The Pot Luck Club on our last night, a renowned restaurant with a 2 month waiting period on top of an old biscuit mill that I think might have been a top 5 meal of my life. Every meal that we ate was really good if not incredible and the prices were pretty agreeable.

The Neighborhoods market is hosted every Saturday in the same neighborhood that The Pot Luck Club and Saucisse Deli are in and is a place for hipsters of all types to showcase their handmade goods. There was handmade leather handbags and wallets, custom cork shoes, forged jewelery and even bamboo sunglasses presented on the front basket of a fixed gear bicycle (I told you, real hipsters). The stuff was really cool though and if it weren't for the $150 price tag, I would have sprung for a pair of cork soled shoes. What was really impressive was the food market. There was an ocean of delicious things to sample and even craft beers to try (Jack Black brewery, not the actor). Our favourite spot in the whole market was the spread of delicious charcuterie from Bread and Wine. We loaded up on the good stuff and snacked like kings for the rest of our trip.

Cape Town is renowned for the prominent Table Mountain which looms 3,558 ft above the city. We climbed a mountain called Lion’s head, which provided an excellent view of the city, the Cape of Good Hope and both the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The top was a bit of a party, with some hundred travelers and Capetownians alike drinking wine, watching the sunset, and trying to take pictures of themselves perched as precariously close to the edge as possible. Apparently, more people die on Table Mountain than on Everest every year, and now I think I understand why.

Cape Town is also well known for Robben Island, the now World Heritage Site and former political prison that housed Nelson Mandela. It's very reminiscent of Alcatraz island - it's about 2 miles long and a mile wide and within eye-shot of the metropolis of Cape Town. I'm sure it was a really difficult place to spend years locked up as a political prisoner all the while being able to see Cape Town where you'd like to be living and engaging the country's politics and future. Nelson Mandela is absolutley revered here and he should be. People don't really talk about his death yet here, the country is still morning. He spent 27 years locked up in a 6'x4' cell sleeping on the floor and working days hand crushing at a rock quarry and when he got out he urged his fellow black South Africans to reconcile with those that imprisoned him. The selflessness and awareness blow me away. We were also fortunate to share the experience with a group from the northern part of the state who had never seen the ocean, a boat or Robben Island before. It was really cool to see the legend of Nelson Mandela and Robben Island being experienced by new people and carried to new places.

There are innumerable beaches all along the coast any way you go from town. Beaches with perfect light yellow sand, tidal pools, great surfing and top notch sunsets. We were lucky to find ourselves on one such beach where the cliffs shot up from the sea covered in green and speckled with modern, expansive homes. I find it so difficult to break out and just sit when I've got so much to think about in my everyday life, but when you're half a world away and the only distraction is the slowly setting sun, it's natural. I explored tidal pools and just watched and Brianne did what Brianne does, took pictures.

Also, within a short drive there are hundreds of wineries where you can just sit and wile the hours away sipping on some wine on a farm where the grapes grow in front of you. Our favorite spot was Montpellier outside of Tulbagh. We had for no real reason turned down a dirt road, and then for no real reason followed that road for 15 minutes. We were about to turn around when we saw an old white farmhouse surrounded by beautiful gardens and vineyards. We sat next to the garden and small pool that they had and enjoyed many great wines (I've decided I like wine when I'm at a vineyard, otherwise Craft beer or whiskey > wine) and cheeses while we watched them irrigate their gardens and grapes. Our server, Emmanual, who was from Malawi, was a great host and really expressed his love for the estate and their wines to us with his deep smile and "yes!" response to our questions and compliments alike. I wouldn't say that I often do 'lovely' things, so this may not be totally meaningful, but I think that was the loveliest thing I've ever done.

Cape Town was a pleasant surprise - maybe because we didn't have many expectations before we arrived, but probably because it’s a really excellent place to spend some time exploring, playing and eating.