We were met at the airport by Martin who works for Hayley Burger at Go
That Way travel agency. She had been contacted by Bill Constantine, and old A-1
pilot that Bill knew. He has lived in Cape Town for about 15 years and himself
worked as a travel guide. However, with age and medical problems, he no longer
guides and is in the process of moving back to the United States. Hayley
arranged all our tours and lodging while we were in Cape Town, and she was
wonderful to work with.
The lodging in Cape Town was the Rosedene Guest House, a charming little
B and B in the Gardens section of Cape Town that is located near the
base of Table Mountain. What a spectacular view we had from our windows. Hayley
had contacted us once we landed and asked if we would like to go to an upscale
restaurant, The Utopia, which had a wine tasting and pairing menu. She was going
that night to a farewell dinner for a friend and said she would be glad to drive
us there if we wished. Of course, the mention of wine was all we needed to say
yes.
After settling into our room at the Rosedene, we met Hayley when she came
to pick us up. She is a ball of energy and great to work with. She explained the
tours she had arranged for us but said that it was going to rain the day we had
scheduled the Wine Tasting Tour, so she suggested that we move it to a later
date. We agreed and she added that there were two museums/exhibitions in Cape
Town we should see and that she would take us there on the rainy day.
At the restaurant, she got us seated at our table in a sunroom where we had gorgeous
views of Cape Town and the sunset. She also checked on us during the evening to
make sure we were enjoying ourselves. As you can see by the menu, the dinner was
a perfect way to start our visit to Cape Town.
The next morning, we met our guide Albert for the Table Mountain, Boulder’s Beach,
and Cape Peninsula with the Cape of Good Hope Tour, and began a wonderful day of
touring Cape Town’s scenic landscapes. Our first stop was to Table Mountain, a
flat-top mountain
that overlooks the city of Cape Town and some of its beautiful beaches on the
east side of the mountain. It is part of the Table Mountain National Park that
also includes the Cape Point peninsula with its Cape of Good Hope. It rises
about 3500 feet above sea level, which is not tall compared to Colorado’s 14ers,
but it dominates the Cape Town skyline. In 2011, it was voted as one of the New
7 Wonders of Nature. It was the Dutch settlers in 1652 that named the mountain
“Tafelberg” which means Table Mountain. Before that the indigenous Khoisan
people called it the “Mountain of the Sea.” The main feature of the mountain is
of course the level plateau which measures about 2 miles from side to side with
steep cliffs on both sides. Millions of years ago this plateau was once a valley
floor. The Table Mountain plateau, along with Devil’s Peak to the east, Lion’s
Head to the west, and Signal Hill to the west of Lion’s Head, form a natural
amphitheater around the city of Cape Town.
To reach the top of Table Mountain,
we took a cable car that had a 360-degree viewing platform. You stood on the
platform, being careful not to hold on to the outside railing, and the platform
slowly moved in a circle, giving everyone fantastic views of the mountain. Or,
if you were like Bill, you sat in the center of the cable car and held on to one
of the poles. It is a good thing one of us is not too afraid of heights,
otherwise we would have no photos of our adventures!
Once on top, Albert pointed
out all the views that lay beneath us as he guided us on the paths around the
plateau. Other than the scenic views and the endemic flora and fauna found here
(we only saw two Sugar Birds), there is not much else. The cable car station
does have a souvenir shop and a small snack market, but it is the only building
on the plateau. It was quite windy up on the top, but we had a beautiful day
with no fog or clouds, so the views were spectacular.
Returning to our car, we
began our drive toward the Cape Peninsula. As we left the city and suburbs
behind, we drove along the beautiful coastline and around bays with their little
towns. There was one stretch of highway, Chapman’s Peak Drive, which is not only
beautiful, but also very dangerous. It hugs the face of Chapman Mountain which
is on the west side of Cape Peninsula. With the potential for falling rocks,
sharp curves, and steep cliffs down to the water, I am certainly glad I was not
driving.
Chapman’s Peak Drive is only about 5 miles long, and when we reached
its end, we turned inward and drove across the peninsula to the next highlight
on our tour Boulder’s Beach. However, before arriving at Boulder’s Beach, Albert
took us to his favorite fishing village on Kalk’s Bay to have fish and chip’s at
Kalky’s, a small food shack that sits at the top end of a fishing pier. It was
not much to look at, but the fish and chips were delicious. After lunch we
walked along the pier and watched them unload crates of crayfish (we would call
them lobsters) and other fish. We also saw seals playing in the water and
several South African fur seals sunning themselves on the pier.
Our next stop, Boulder’s Beach, for me was the highlight of the tour. This is where they have a colony of African penguins, which used to be called Jackass Penguins, that settled here in 1982. These penguins have a distinctive pink patch above their eyes that helps stabilized their body temperature. When the penguins get warm, their blood rushes to these pink glands causing their bodies to cool down. Boulder’s Beach is a small beach covered with granite boulders that protect it from the wind and large waves. It is also part of the Table Mountain National Park. These penguins are only found in the south-eastern edge of Africa (Namibia to South Africa). Once inside the park, we walked down boardwalks until we came to the beach where the penguins live. Many were still sitting on nests, and I saw several eggs as the penguins changed position. There were also quite a few baby chicks that still had their down feathers. Until they molt and get their water-proof feathers, they cannot go into the water. Other penguins were swimming in the water, one pair was “canoodling” on the beach, while one bully penguin kept chasing and pecking at other penguins. We ended this enjoyable visit by having an ice cream cone before returning to the car.
We then continued
our drive down to Cape Point at the southern tip of Africa. On the way Albert
pointed out some Elands, the largest of the antelope species, along the side of
the road. He said it was highly unusual to see an Eland this close to the road.
And as we approached the funicular station at Cape Point, there were a group of
ostriches that thought it would be fun to disrupt traffic by walking down the
middle of the road. We did not mind a bit as we had not seen any ostriches on
our safari. So, this drive was like a little game drive.
Cape Point and its
sister Cape of Good Hope are located at the very tip of Cape Peninsula. While
they, especially Cape of Good Hope, are considered the southern-most tip of the
African continent, that honor actually goes to Cape Aguihas, which is located
about 93 miles to the east-southeast of the peninsula. Cape Point and Cape of
Good Hope were discovered by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, although it had been
inhabited by the indigenous Khoikhoi people for many years. European explorers
soon realized how advantageous this location was in establishing a direct route
to India and in 1652 the Dutch East India Company was founded which eventually
evolved into the present-day city of Cape Town.
We took the funicular up to the
viewing areas by the Old Lighthouse. The funicular is named The Flying Dutchman
after the ghost ship that legend says still sails the waters around the
peninsula. The Old Lighthouse was built in 1860 on top of Cape Point Peak which
rises 781 feet above sea level. However, this turned out to be a rather poor
location for the lighthouse as the remote location made it difficult for the
lighthouse keepers to replenish their supplies. And to add insult to injury,
mariners complained that because of its height above sea level, the lighthouse
was very difficult to see from the sea as many times it was shrouded in low
hanging clouds. While the many commissions in charge of lighthouses (from
1872-1906) recommended its removal, it took the 1911 sinking of the Portuguese
SS Lusitania on Beacon Rick, a hidden underwater rock not far from the Point,
before action was taken to build a new, lower lighthouse. The Old Lighthouse’s
lamp was finally extinguished on 11 March 1919. The new lighthouse was
constructed only a short distance out on the point from the Old Lighthouse, but
it is only 285 feet above sea level. In 1936 it was electrified and today is the
most powerful light on the South African coast.
Although we were not able to see
the New Lighthouse from our viewing areas by the Old Lighthouse, we had
spectacular views of the steep cliffs where cormorants nested, beautiful bays,
and sandy beaches. You could also see the swirling water around Beacon Rock
where the Lusitania sunk. As you looked to your right you could see the Cape of
Good Hope which we drove to after leaving Cape Point.
We thoroughly
enjoyed our adventures through the Table Mountain National Park – the scenery
was magnificent ,and the penguins were adorable. Albert was a great guide, funny
and knowledgeable, and an excellent driver. It was a long day, but one we will not forget.
Arriving back
at Rosedene, we freshened up and walked down the hill about 1 ½ blocks to a
wonderful little Italian restaurant, Bacinis, for dinner. It was very crowded
with a long waiting list, but the hostess was able to find us two seats at the
bar. I had a wonderful Margarita pizza and Bill had seafood linguini and we each
had several glasses of wine. The bill was a whopping $27.17! Later Hayley told
us we should not have walked to Bacinis as it was not in a very safe
neighborhood. She told us next time take an Uber. To us it just seemed like a
little residential area.
This morning we did our own tour to Robben Island where
Nelson Mandela and other political opponents were imprisoned during the
apartheid era. Robben Island is 5 square miles in size and is located 5 miles
west of the southwest mainland and 6 miles north of Cape Town. Prior to its
discovery by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, Robben Island was inhabited mainly by
wildlife. Rather than deal with the indigenous people on the mainland, European
explorers preferred to use Robben Island as their resupply post as there was
plenty of meat and fresh water available. In 1671, the Dutch began to use the
island as a prison for convicted criminals, political prisoners and other
undesirables who had been banished from the Dutch colonies in Africa. In 1806,
the British took control of the Cape Town area and continued using the island as
a prison. They also tried to establish a whaling center on the island but soon
learned that this provided an easy escape for the prisoners. In 1812, Britain
tried to use the island as an asylum for lepers, the mentally ill and other
undesirable people. At this time (1812) they removed all the prisoners and sent
them back to Cape Town where they could provide free labor for government
projects such as road building. Unfortunately, the sick and disabled did not
receive very good care and in 1931, they were all sent back to hospitals in Cape
Town. The island became a military outpost during WWII. Fast forward to 1961 and
the island again became a prison, this time for political opponents and people
who fought against apartheid, including Nelson Mandela. Mandela spent 18 years
at Robben Island before being sent to prisons in Pretoria for another 9 years.
In 1996 the prisons on Robben Island closed for good, and with the demise of
apartheid, the island has now become a tourist attraction. In 1999 it was
declared a World Heritage Site.
Martin picked us up at Rosedene and drove us to
the waterfront where we walked through a very upscale shopping mall to get to
the Victoria and Albert (V&W) waterfront, named for Queen Victoria and her
second son. Today it is a very chic retail and hospitality center, where in the
afternoon, you can watch local African musicians playing their instruments and
singing native songs. Martin took us to the Nelson Mandela Museum where we would
board our ferry to Robben Island. We were booked on the 11 AM ferry that would
return at 3 PM and Martin said he would meet us again when we returned. To reach
the ferry you had to follow a path through the Museum which showed Mandela’s
life in murals and videos that you could watch as your snaked your way to the
ferry entrance. The ferry took about 30 minutes to reach the island and during
that time you could watch a very well-done video on the history of Robben
Island. Once on the island we were escorted to waiting buses that took us on a
guided tour of the island. Our first stop was the prison itself, where a former
inmate and now a guide, took us through some of the buildings while telling us
about his own experiences at the prison. He had spent 7 years there and now
lives on the island in the Robben Island Village. He spent most of his time in the prison working in the kitchen and as such was housed in one of the lower security buildings.There were about 6 buildings
that made up the prison, each identified by a letter (A-F). The buildings
identified as A-D were large, each holding about 60 prisoners who were
considered low risk and as such had a little more freedom. There was an athletic
field close by where they could participate in sporting activities. But this in
no means meant that their life was comfortable. The large rooms had no beds, the
prisoners slept on the floor on a thin mat with one thin blanket for warmth. And
the food was barely enough to keep the men alive. Our guide showed us a chart of how much food was allocated to each prisoner
on a daily basis. The other two buildings (E-F) were considered the maximum
security buildings where each prisoner was confined to a small room and only
allowed into a secure courtyard about an hour each week. During the mornings they would be required to work in the limestone quarry. They were also kept
segregated from the rest of the prisoners. It was in one of these cells that
Nelson Mandela spent his 18 years on Robben Island.
As we drove around the
island, our guide showed us the limestone quarry that was used by the prisoners
to build the structures on the island. We passed by the old hospital that was
used when the island was an asylum and the nearby Leper’s Cemetery. In the
Village we saw the old school building, but it is no longer in use (except for
the sea birds that call it home) and the children must travel to the mainland
for school. We also made a photo stop to see the lighthouse, built in 1865 and
still in use today, and views of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the
background.
Once back on the mainland, Martin met us and took us to Hayley’s office. There she took us to a new little bistro that she liked and we had a late lunch/early dinner. We all settled for the French onion soup, I also had a chicken Caesar salad, Bill had a club sandwich, and Hayley had a salmon dish. And of course, the lunch would not have been complete without dessert – a Black Forest cake that Bill and I shared. Then it was home to relax and an early evening.
As Hayley predicted the next day was raining. She picked us up in the
morning and took us to the first of 2 museums – The Heart of Cape Town. This is
a museum about the world’s first heart transplant performed by Dr. Christiaan
Barnard on 3 December 1967 on Louis Washkansky, a 53-year old grocer who was
dying of heart disease. The museum is located in the Groote Schuur Hospital
which is still a large teaching hospital connected to the University of Cape
Town and where the actual transplant occurred. The museum is in a small area and
encompasses the actual hospital rooms that were used for the transplant. Our
tour started with a video of the life of Dr. Barnard. Then we visited a small operating/laboratory room
that Dr. Barnard used to perfect his technique on dogs that were going to be
euthanized by the local human society. We also visited his office which was left
exactly how it was when he was practicing medicine. The next room was dedicated
to the donor – Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman who along with her mother were hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street. Her mother was killed
instantly, but Denise was still alive when taken to the hospital. She was later
declared brain dead, and her father gave permission for her heart to be used in
this transplant. Her kidney was also donated to a young boy whose name was never
released. Denise liked to designed clothes and in one room were three of the dresses that
she had designed. Our next two stops were the actual operating rooms used in the
transplant – the one where the donor’s heart was removed and the second room
where Dr. Barnard performed the transplant. The rooms were exactly like they
were during the operations to include the actual instruments and machines used
in the transplant. The clock in Dr. Barnard’s operating room was stopped at the
exact moment the transplant was done. Our final stop was the room where Mr.
Washkansky stayed following the surgery. Unfortunately, the drugs he was given
to keep his body from rejecting the heart also suppressed his immune system and
he died 18 days after the operation from double pneumonia. He heart, however,
continued to function normally until his death. The guided tour lasted about 2
hours and was very interesting. Our guide provided a lot of information about
Dr. Barnard – his education and personal life – as well as information on the
donor and recipient. We would highly recommend this for anyone visiting Cape
Town.
We then drove to the Truth to Power Exhibition that is located in the Old
Granary Building, that was built between 1809-1814. It chronicles the life of
Desmond Tutu from his fight against apartheid to his rise in the SA (South
African) Council of Churches to the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Cape
Town. The exhibit is divided into 6 themes that describe his life within the
context of South Africa’s painful history of apartheid: (1) Apartheid Education
– young Tutu’s life and his early influences, (2) The Struggle in the Church –
the split between those in the churches that supported apartheid and those who
opposed it, (3) Faith in Action – his work to get international sanctions
against the government of South Africa, (4) Protest and Peace-Making – the era
of protests and Tutu’s appearance as a popular speaker at these gatherings, (5)
Unfinished Business – Tutu’s work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) that investigated human rights violations and made recommendations for
reparations, and (6) TU+TU = Freedom – which highlights Archbishop Tutu’s global
reach and the influence he has had on the younger generation to follow his
example. It was a self-guided exhibit with pictures and videos of Tutu’s life
and work. It presented a good picture of the struggle to rid South Africa of
apartheid. I found Tutu’s words that were framed at the beginning of the
exhibition to be quite profound and even more applicable in today’s society: “As
much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for
genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression and injustice, the world
has an even greater instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth,
freedom and love.”
Sunday was a quiet rainy day. We
had not made any plans and used the day to relax and get caught up with some
laundry to take us through the rest of the trip with clean underwear. At 5 PM we
met Bill Constantine down in the Rosedene’s lounge for some wine as he and Bill
spent the next hour reminiscing their time in the A-1 Skyraider. Then the three
of us went back down to Bacinis (this time Bill drove us) for a pizza dinner and
more war stories.
Monday was a beautiful day – perfect for our Winelands Tasting
Tour. Our guide, Deon, had planned four different wineries for us to visit and
each one was fabulous. The first winery was Fairfax located in the Paarl region
of the Western Cape province. They were also a goat farm and made their own
cheeses. Deon had made us reservations in the Master Tasting Room where we had
our own sommelier. Here we sampled 8 different wines (at 10:30 in the morning),
each paired with a different type of cheese. Here they also have perfected an
original wine – Bloemcool. As described in their own words – “The result is
Bloemcool – an esoteric, age-worthy wine that brims with elegance and tales to
tell. We’ve even embraced our heritage by repurposing past bottles and
hand-making labels that are implanted with real cauliflower seeds, encouraging
the new keeper of the wine to let the story of Bloemcool perpetually live on.”
Not only is the wine unique, but the handmade label contains embedded
cauliflower seeds. The word “Bloemkool” means “cauliflower” in Afrikaans, and
the idea is that after you have enjoyed the wine, you can plant the seeds and
continue to enjoy the fruits of the wine when you harvest your own “bloemcool”.
The wine was very good, as were all the others. And on the way out we saw one of
the goats climbing up the outside of a tower. What a way to start the day!
Our
next stop was to the Grand Provence Winery in the Franschhoek Valley of the
Western Cape Province. It was a beautiful setting and we sat outside to enjoy
our wine. Bill opted for the oysters and wine combination while I tried the wine
and nougat. Bill still raves about the oysters. They were so good he asked for
another three. My wine was good, and you can’t go wrong with candy.
Our third
winery was Rust en Vrede in the Stellenbosch region. This stop also included
lunch/dinner, which was a good thing as by now we had each had about a ½ bottle
of wine. Again, this winery is in a beautiful location, and we sat outdoors
enjoying the wine, food and scenery. The lunch consisted of a steak filet that
was cooked to perfection and delicious French fries (or chips as they are called
here) – South African definitely know how to make French fries. Most of the
wines produced here are reds, although I did manage to get a glass of Sauvignon
Blanc which was quite good. I also enjoyed the red wines which I have no
problems with outside of the United States. And Bill enjoyed them all also. We
finally had to leave (which was hard because it was such a beautiful setting)
but we needed to get to our last tasting.
Our final winery was Waterford Estates
in the Stellenbosch region. Here we had the Wine and Chocolate Experience. It
was a series of dark and milk chocolates paired with their Shiraz, Cabernet
Sauvignon, and Natural Sweet Wine. It was the perfect ending to a spectacular
day! Deon was an absolutely delightful guide who really knows his wines. The
agenda he prepared was perfect. We enjoyed all the experiences and the beautiful
settings that the Winelands region offers.
I cannot think of a more perfect way
to end our tour of Cape Town. We had a lovely visit to Cape Town. It is really
an amazing city, and the surrounding areas are rich in history, scenic vistas,
and fabulous wineries. If anyone is visiting South Africa, you really need to
plan a trip down to Cape Town. And Hayley Burger at Go That Way travel agency is
wonderful at planning your trip for you. You will not be disappointed.
Below are some pictures of the Rosedene Guest House, the beautiful little B and B that we stayed in during our time in Cape Town. The owner and staff were wonderful and very friendly and helpful. They knew both Haley Burger and Bill Constantine so they took extra special care of us. The Egyptian Goose in the picture below was a very noisy visitor to a tree just outside our window. Who needs an alarm clock when you have a goose!
And I saved my most favorite picture for last.
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