My view from the Westin hotel

Unfortunately I never had one of the awesome rooms – the ones that face Table Mountain and the setting sun! So, if you plan on staying at the Westin, try to organise that you get a room facing Signal Hill’s direction.

Below are a few more photos taken from my room on the 8th floor – a little later in the evening.

SOS and the NSRI

The NSRI are a group of about 1000 unpaid volunteers around the country who respond 24×7 to calls for emergency sea rescue. Visit their site for interesting information about who they are as well as stats about how many lives they’ve helped save.

The instituted is highly respected and I have no hesitation in suggesting that you consider donating towards rescue equipment, fuel and the maintenance of their vessels.

Cape Town Stadium at night

To the contrary – Cape Town Stadium turned out to be a remarkable feature sporting a large greenbelt with beautiful lakes.

I took this photo on the night of a double-header between four South African football teams. The teams and the fans are so lucky have the privilege of a world-class stadium.

Jan Cats restaurant in Stellenbosch

The restaurant was fairly quiet – I suspect because most of the the university students are away on holiday. They had a fairly large selection of meals to choose from and a number of special offers, including 40% off chicken and beef burgers. The food wasn’t anything extraordinary, but perfectly acceptable (although, we’d recommend chicken over the beef patties). The day had been pretty warm, so what was great about the restaurant was that we were able to sit outside on the cool patio amidst huge oak trees, enjoying the peaceful evening atmosphere.

If it’s a warm evening, and you’re in the mood for pub/bistro-type food, and if there’s place out on the patio – I’d recommend visiting Jan Cats. If you can’t sit on the patio – I’d probably select another restaurant in Andringa Road.

Outside Cape Town Stadium

If you’re disappointed at the lack of text in this article, don’t be sad, please refer here for the background.

Camps Bay Beach

Even though I didn’t have a tripod handy, the final colours of the setting sun were too beautiful a photo opportunity to pass up. In the distance a handful of people still walked along the water’s edge, soaking up nature’s tranquillity, while behind me the bars and restaurants teemed with the beautiful people of Cape Town.

You only have a few weeks left before the cold weather sets in, so if you haven’t been out to Camps Bay for dinner and drinks yet, I strongly suggest that you do so soon.

AquABBA at Aqua Festival

“I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay – Ain’t it sad?”

After the brilliant performance by Johnny Clegg on Saturday we found ourselves at the Aqua Festival’s AquABBA show at the V&A Waterfront. What a spectacular spectacle it was – especially with the likes of Amra-Faye Wright (cast as Velma Kelly in The Broadway Company’s musical, Chicago), Jody Williams (winner of SA Idols 2007) and the members of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra gracing the stage. Other artists taking part were Craig Urbani (known, amongst many other things, for his role in the SA soap-opera Isidingo), Chrissy Caine, and Alistair Izobel.

They sang all ABBA’s best-known hits, as well as a few songs from the musical Chess (which was written by Benny and Bjorn, of course); and by the time they got to “Thank you for the music” the crowd was on their feet, singing and dancing along. Kerry-Anne pointed out that the setting was absolutely perfect for an ABBA tribute show, as the harbour backdrop was very reminiscent of Mamma Mia.

If you don’t yet have plans for New Year’s Eve, (and especially if you’re going to be at the V&A Waterfront anyway), consider booking your seat for AquABBA – I believe the ticket price includes not only the show, but the NYE afterparty at the Aquarium as well.

I’ve put together an album of photos from the performance. Check it out here.

Johnny Clegg at AquaFestival

Kerry-Anne and I were invited to watch the legendary Johnny Clegg performing at AquaFestival at the V&A Waterfront last night. This year is the first AquaFestival, and if last night’s performance, vibe and setting were anything to go by, I can only imagine that the performances over the remaining week and a half will be magical, and that the festival will definitely be back next year!

You can’t see it in the photo above, but in this photo you’ll see that the entire stage on which the band performed was floating about 5 metres off the pier in the V&A’s yacht basin. Table Mountain, the setting sun, beautiful yachts, and the city lights filled the background to make the setting comparable in beauty to that of the Kirstenbosch concerts.

Johnny Clegg is performing again on Monday night (at 20h30), and I think there are still a few tickets up for sale. Even if you can’t make that show, check out the circus that’s performing at 14h00 every day until Thursday, or book tickets for the evening ABBA or ballet shows; tickets cost between R60 and R250, depending on the show.

P.S. In case you’re concerned about the persistent wind we’ve been having – I can’t speak for the shows that I haven’t been to, but there was only the slightest of breezes in the yacht basin last night, which was a freakin’ fantastic break from the wind we’ve been enduring!

Night craft market

Every first Saturday of the month, a variety of crafters get together under the trees in Durbanville to sell their home-made products at the Durbanville Craft Market. In December the organisers put together special night markets for people who would like to buy hand-made gifts for their friends and family. Apart from the handcrafted items that you can purchase, there’s always take-away food available, and a variety of entertainers to keep shoppers amused. The night markets are finished for the year now, but keep them in mind next year – they have some pretty cool stuff for sale.

Click here to see a list of craft markets around the country.

The Old Biscuit Mill

While I’ll not rehash what’s special about the renovated mill (see their website, or my old article), in my next post I’ll explain what was special about this evening and why I visited.

& Union Beer Salon

We had the chance for the first time to visit & Union (yes, that’s And Union) for drinks and a light snack last Friday. We had an awesome evening, not only due to the fun people that we met up with, the exclusive selection of imported beer, and the yummy bratwurst snacks, but also because we were fortunate to be treated to a few dozen songs by photographer and musician, Andy Lund (pictured here, on the right).

As you may have gathered, summer has arrived in Cape Town. Days are getting longer and evenings are getting warmer – which means that restaurants have started spilling over into the open air, creating an awesome party vibe throughout the city. I love this time of year!

If you’re looking for directions to & Union, no worries, here’s a map.

V&A Waterfront canal at night

In a post about the Westin Grand Hotel a few days ago I mentioned the canal that leads from the hotel and the CTICC to the Waterfront area. And voila, here you have it!

The canal is known as the Roggebaai Canal, and apparently water taxis depart from the Westin Grand Hotel every hour on the two-kilometre, 20-minute trip. From the hotel, the taxi takes passengers under the freeway, past a fresh sea-water waterfall, and then past the City Lodge Hotel. After the City Lodge the taxi heads on under more bridges, past the West Quay offices and under two lifting bridges, through the marina lock, and then to moor at the Two Oceans Aquarium.

The one-way trip costs just R20 for adults and R10 for kids, and as soon as the weather clears up, we’re definitely going to take the trip! Take a look at the route map that I’ve plotted on Google Maps.

Constantia Nek Restaurant

According to their website, the Constantia Nek Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. I think that my mother would contest that as she often feels like her kitchen is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town.

Seriously though, I can’t confirm whether or not it’s true, but based on the fact that the restaurant is in a spot secluded from the city’s development I guess that it’s possible that the restaurant is the oldest surviving restaurant in Cape Town. I have to be honest and say that we’ve never had dinner there, but I do remember stopping by for a couple of beers while watching a friend of mine play guitar in a band.

Back then the inside was decorated old-style, with benches that you’d expect to find in an old English tavern. What was really cool about the place was that they had extra-warm (that’s slightly warmer than warm) fires burning inside to keep the place nice and toasty during winter evenings. While I stood outside taking this photo, I could hear voices and laughter emanating from the building – it would seem as though that warmth lives on, fire or no fire.

Shortmarket Street in Cape Town

… falls mainly on Greenmarket Square. Well, not actually. The rain in Cape Town has been falling pretty much everywhere over the last day or two, and in rather large quantities too.

We had to go into the city for a friend’s birthday party, and both wondered at times whether it wouldn’t have been better to take a motorboat or canoe instead of our car. There’s been flooding in quite a few areas, including Camps Bay, Newlands and Somerset West. Fortunately our neighbourhood seems to have escaped with a bit less rain than everywhere else, so we weren’t affected in any way (apart from getting a bit wet walking from our car to the restaurant from which this photo was taken).

Of course, the great thing about Cape Town’s winter is that we get all the cold, rainy weather in a few short, intense bursts, and for the rest of the time it’s sunny and clear.

The Blue Peter

The Lower Deck Bistro at the Blue Peter has never been one of my favourite spots in Cape Town, although it seems a lot of our friends like it – I know this because we keep getting invited to things there. Usually these “things” are informal lunch-time meetups or sundowners, but this time it was an evening birthday party.

Although the birthday party itself was lovely (we got to see a whole lot of old friends we hadn’t seen in ages), the experience pretty much sealed my impressions of the Blue Peter as A Place I Don’t Want To Go To Again. As you may be able to tell from the photo, there weren’t a lot of other people at the venue. In fact, there weren’t really any other people at all. In fact… yes, I think you get the picture. This struck us as rather odd, given that it was a Saturday night.

Apparently the first members of our party to arrive had been told (at 6pm, before they’d even placed their first drinks orders), “Last rounds are at 21h45… as long as you know that.” An odd start to the evening, wouldn’t you say? By 20h00, after we’d finished our pizzas, it had become clear that the manager and his waitrons were rather keen for us to move the party elsewhere. We were obviously the only customers there by that time, and they’d presumably decided that getting an early night was a better option than wasting their time serving just one table. They hovered near the entrance, glancing over at us constantly, and the waitress passed a remark at one point that she was “just worried, because no-one’s drinking”, which wasn’t true, of course – we just weren’t drinking much alcohol.

All in all, it became pretty weird and uncomfortable, until we eventually left at around 9pm; and Paul and I certainly won’t be going back if we can help it. If you don’t mind being watched by the manager while you sip your latte, or having the waitress raise her eyebrows in disbelief when you order your whiskey without ice, then you’ll probably enjoy it more than we did.

Night time intersection

The building that you can see more or less in the middle of this photo is the Panorama Medi-Clinic, one of the best known private hospitals in Cape Town. Take a look at the lights spreading out in the background and you’ll probably be able to work out why this area is called Panorama. It’s located on the slopes of Tygerberg Hill, in the northern suburbs, and from here you can see a very large part of greater Cape Town.

The Panorama Medi-Clinic was opened in 1986, and was the very first hospital launched by the Medi-Clinic group. I’m not a big fan of hospitals in general, due to having spent quite a bit of time in one when I was a toddler. Being in a hospital environment always brings up vague feelings of trauma for me, so I avoid them as far as possible. If you don’t have any such qualms, though, then take a visual tour of the Panorama Medi-Clinic.

fashiontv

Needless to say, Kerry-Anne complemented the other exceptionally beautiful and sophisticated people. The music was loud, but not loud enough to make my ears uncomfortable; and what was pretty awesome was that while the DJ played, a guy walked around the bar area playing a saxophone in harmony with the DJ’s tracks. It really was pretty darn impressive and created an interesting blend of hip-hop and pop music crossed with a live sax performance.

All in all it was a pretty good experience – the club wasn’t too crowded and the dance-floor opened fairly late, giving people a chance to socialise. The drinks weren’t cheap (about R20 for a 330ml beer), but not unreasonably expensive either, and there were plenty of places to grab a seat if you got tired of standing.

I think we’ll have to visit again some time (so let us know when you’re looking for a party )!

These Three Words

Our friend Sidney invited us to his birthday party at Plaasteater (an Afrikaans word for farm theatre) at the Hazendal wine estate last weekend. Plaasteater is a cosy bar (or pub) that hosts live music shows, so Sidney asked These Three Words (who happen to be friends of his) to be the entertainment for the evening. They did a really good job, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone had fun.

South Africa has a huge number of largely unknown bands playing in pubs all over the major cities (and many small towns) every weekend. Each of these bands has a small following of enthusiastic fans – not large enough to allow them to actually make a living from music, but large enough to encourage them to spend their evenings after work practising their music.

Of course, then there are those like Prime Circle, Seether, and Just Jinjer, who eventually reach critical mass and become full-time musicians, playing with the big boys in Europe and the USA, and making most of their money from live shows and band merchandise.

The question that’s being asked these days, as the Internet matures and large record labels lose control over “piracy”, is how the local music scene will be affected, and whether the development of the Internet will lead to greater equilibrium between large and small (but still really good) bands.

Black taxi

If you’re unfamiliar with South Africa you may wonder why I named the title of this post “Black” taxi, especially when there are no black vehicles in this photo. The orange minivan in the photo is in fact known colloquially as a “Black taxi”; this form of transport is used by a large portion of the country’s population to get to and from work, and by far the majority of these commuters are black. These taxis are generally (and perhaps ironically) white, so this orange one is an exception.

If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on the N2 highway during rush-hour you’re sure to experience the taxi operators’ phenomenal driving ability – often you just have to sit back and laugh at these drivers’ arrogant resourcefulness when navigating stopped or grid-locked traffic. And, oh, by the way, the unofficial rule of the road is that unless you have a significantly large vehicle and/or don’t particularly mind your car being scratched or dented, these taxis have right of way.

SA Blog Awards party

So we got all dressed up last night and went off to join about 200 other party people at Chevelle, to find out who the winners were in this year’s SA Blog Awards. If you’re a regular reader, then you’ll probably know that we were nominated in three categories again this year. And if you’re somewhere in this photo, then you’ll probably know that we didn’t win anything this time around.

We came second in the Photographic Blog category (the winner was I Wrote This For You) and second in the Travel Blog category (the winner was the Portfolio Collection blog). Strangely, we’re not particularly disappointed about not winning – the thing that’s meant the most to us throughout the process has been the constant stream of people telling us either in person, or via email or Twitter, or right here on our blog, that they’d voted for us and that they really enjoy and value our photos and our commentary each day.

(We’ve also had a whole lot of compliments on the new design, by the way, but those compliments must go entirely to Max Kaizen, the creative brain behind this beautiful layout.)

So, from the bottom of my heart, a huge thank you to all of you. Winning awards is not what makes this worthwhile. Knowing that we regularly brighten your day, teach you something, persuade you to get out there and do things, rekindle your memories, or make you want to visit our fabulous city – those are the things that count, and I sincerely hope that we can keep on doing them for a long, long time.

You can see all the results here: SA Blog Awards 2009. And to Chris, Miguel and Tyler, you did a fantastic job in pulling this together – thank you.

Restaurant Table

It seems as though we don’t go out for dinner much these days unless it’s to a function like GeekDinner, 27Dinner, or something similar. I arrived home this evening to a wife not up for cooking and myself not too much in the mood either.

A quick decision was made, which entailed rationalising the fact that we deserve eating out tonight – because we’ve been working so hard, you see. Anyway, we’ve been meaning to try Chai-Yo, a Thai restaurant in Durbanville, for some time.

To be honest, we’re never really impressed by restaurants in the northern suburbs, and most often find ourselves eating out in the city or in the southern suburbs. The thing that normally counts against restaurants in the north is the service – which is usually just not good, or pretty average at best (to be honest).

But this is what made our visit to Chai-Yo really awesome. The service was impeccable – polite, helpful, and attentive without being overly intrusive. The thinly-cut, seared, tuna starter that Kerry-Anne and I shared was delicious, as were the traditional Thai chicken dishes that we ate as our main course.

So to sum it up, there was great service, good food, and a pleasantly comfortable yet smart ambience. Well done Chai Yo, please do keep it up!

Beach Road in Mouille Point at night

On Wednesday we showed you the view from Wakame; this photo was taken from the same section of the restaurant (the upstairs bar area), but facing in a slightly different direction (looking up Beach Road, towards the lighthouse and Sea Point). And it was at night, of course.

We don’t often find ourselves in this area on a weeknight, and so we were very surprised to see just how busy this part of the Atlantic Seaboard was. We had to drive around the block quite a few times to find parking – pretty impressive, considering it was 8pm on a Thursday…

Spirit of Victoria

The 58-foot yacht Spirit of Victoria carries passengers on trips around Table Bay, taking them a little way along the Atlantic Seaboard, in fact. At night she lies quietly moored at the north pier of the V&A Waterfront, bobbing about, content after a day of hard work. If you’ve spent much time looking out into Table Bay you will almost certainly have noticed the schooner‘s distinctive brown sails blowing in the wind; see another photo here.

Time permitting, Kerry-Anne and I will try taking a trip on the Spirit of Victoria before summer is over, and then report back on the experience.

Sevruga at the Waterfront

Kerry-Anne’s parents were given a restaurant voucher for their wedding anniversary last year, and kindly invited us to join them in spending it last night at Sevruga, a restaurant close to the water’s edge on the V&A Waterfront’s harbour pier. If I’d taken a step or two back from where I took this photo, I would have been bobbing around in the water!

We had a pretty good time at Sevruga. The service was friendly and good (albeit a little slow, I felt), and the food was well-prepared and well-presented, and tasted very good indeed. Considering the quality of the food, Sevruga’s prices are not bad at all, as you can see on their menu.

Sevruga offers a half-price sushi and cocktail special every day between 2 and 5pm. They have an extensive range of cocktails and a huge sushi menu (I’m not a sushi fan, but Kerry-Anne said that the sushi starter she shared with her mom was superb, as was her seared tuna main course. My steak was excellent – tender, perfectly cooked and tasty.)

All in all, a really lovely experience, and we’ll definitely be back to sample some of their other dishes.

The Waterfront at night

Hot, quiet and windless evenings like this make Capetonians head for the outdoors. While we were at the Waterfront watching the sun slowly fade into an array of pastel colours, hundreds of people would have been meeting up with friends on various beaches around the peninsula, many would have been walking up Signal Hill, and yet others would have been catching a ride to the top of Table Mountain.

Another perfect summer’s eve in Cape Town…

No-stopping sign

In the background of this photo you can see the arches of the Provincial Legislature Building, which houses the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. The building is located in Wale Street, more or less opposite Mandela Rhodes Place.

If you see a sign like the one in the foreground, it means that you cannot stop your vehicle at the side of the road – even if it’s just to pick someone up or drop someone off. This particular sign is a temporary one (they were doing some work at the side of the road and presumably didn’t want anyone stopping while they were busy), but the markings on a permanently mounted No Stopping sign would be identical.

Mandela Rhodes Place

Mandela Rhodes Place is an upmarket mixed-use development located in one of the oldest parts of the city (very close to the Company’s Garden, in fact).

About four or five years ago the idea of inner-city living began to regain some popularity in Cape Town, and one of the most notable developments that originated during that period was Mandela Rhodes Place. The developers, Eurocape, restored several old buildings on the corner of Wale Street and Burg Street, the idea being to preserve the facades and historical architecture of these buildings, while entirely revamping the interiors.

Mandela Rhodes Place was launched in November 2006, and now houses a number of luxury apartments, a 5-star hotel, a winery, retail stores, restaurants, cocktail bars and coffee shops. I’ve only been there twice (at night on both occasions), but I must say, I love the atmosphere inside – it’s quiet and stylish, with a real feeling of spaciousness.

Fishing boats at night

Unfortunately, I doubt that one can purchase fish directly from the boat captains here. If you’re keen on this, then Kalk Bay harbour is the place to be, as recently caught fish can be bought directly from fishermen on the pier.

Crowds at the V&A Waterfront

As I said in yesterday’s post, it really was busy at the V&A Waterfront last night. If you’re familiar with the Waterfront then you’ll likely remember the narrow swinging bridge at the Clock Tower. This crowd on the Clock Tower side was trying to change places with a similarly large crowd on the other side.

Speaking of the Clock Tower: in case you don’t know what it is, the Clock Tower was the old port master’s watchtower, built in the late 1800s when the harbour was still full of old-style sailing ships.

The tower houses a huge clock (hence the name “Clock Tower”), which was about 5 minutes slow on New Year’s Eve. The crowd on our side of the harbour must have been watching the tower because only when a roar of cheering was heard from the other side of the harbour did our side erupt with the realisation that 2009 had arrived at last.

Ferris wheel at the Cape Town Waterfront

With no particular plans for seeing the new year in, Kerry-Anne and I went through to the Cape Town Waterfront to join the thronging crowds watching the annual fireworks display. We bought tickets for a ride on this ferris wheel just before midnight and watched the new year approach from several metres above the ground.

You may notice that only the “W” in “Ferris Wheel” was lit. As we boarded the giant wheel I wondered whether or not I should be concerned that the ride operators were not even able to keep all the lights in working order…

In closing, thanks for spending the last year with us; we’ve certainly enjoyed ourselves and hope that you’ve enjoyed sharing in Cape Town each day. We wish you an exciting and fun-filled 2009 with much love, joy and peace!

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