General

Running water, running boy

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Running water, running boy
For some reason, it seems to me as though The Cape Quarter is a little hidden from the path that most tourists walk. It's a shame, because The Piazza and this, The Square, at De Waterkant's Cape Quarter is a very beautiful and very photogenic area. If you're visiting Cape Town, be sure to visit this spot - you'll thank me later. :)

Gourmet Boerie

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Gourmet Boerie - why did it take so long?
Boerewors rolls (aka boerie rolls) are to South Africans much like burgers are to Americans, or pizzas to Italians - they're practically a staple food.

Boerie rolls have been sold at sports events, festivals, and even along side the road for about as long as South Africa's been South Africa. They're common at braais, and the perfect emergency meal for a Friday evening, when you really don't feel like cooking.

A friend and I visited the Gourmet Boerie (map) launch party on Saturday evening - and OMW, the food was outstanding. Boerewors rolls are normally cool, but Gourmet Boerie's extensive menu that includes gorgonzola, bacon, pecan nuts and rocket, with the choice of lamb, chicken, beef and ostrich sausage, along with the option of white, whole grain, or even rye rolls really takes the traditional braai meal to another level! It really was that good.

South Africans, don't you think it's strange that it's taken so long for a restaurant selling gourmet borie rolls to appear? I'm sure most of us would kick ourselves for not coming up with the idea first!

Flip the switch

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Flip the switch
I found this open electricity box on one of the buildings in Loop Street. It's weird that it's been left so open and accessible. Perhaps someone recently vandalised the cover, and perhaps it's already been fixed.

You have no idea how tempted I was to flip a few of these switches.

Jo’burg in Long Street

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Jo'burg in Long Street
It's a little ironic for a bar in Cape Town to be called Jo'burg - well, at least I think it's ironic. Anyway, reports have it that Jo'burg is one of the noisier bars at the top of Long Street - very vibey, and filled with a diverse group of young people who are out to party.

I've often seen the bar, but I can't say that I've ever felt the desire to visit. Noisy and cramped bars aren't my scene, you know. Well, that's me, but if you're visiting Cape Town and want to get a feel for the local bar scene, then this may be a place to start.

If you visit this area at night, take care - while the top part of Long Street is reasonably safe, this is a city... so keep an eye out, and avoid weirdos - okay? :)

Loop and Buiten Street

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Loop and Buiten Street
In my previous post I asked for you to guess where I'd taken the photo. Well, it was right about here, on the corner of Loop and Buiten Street - which quite close to the top of Loop.

If you're looking for a quiet coffee-shop-type restaurant, there's quite a nice coffee shop and bakery (that sells great cakes) right about here. I can't recall the name, but you can't miss it - it's not like there are a lot of restaurants in this part of Loop Street. :)

DAL’s Deer Park mural

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Deer Park mural
DAL, a public space artist, was born in China and started with his first public works in 2004. Since then he's graced Cape Town with a few murals, including this one at Deer Park - just below Deer Park Café. Click on the pics below to see larger versions, and click through to DAL's own site to browse through his other works - they're extraordinary!

Cheetah-kitty

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Cheetah-kitty
He entered the room like a Don Juan; cool, calm, collected. Two hundred eyeballs fixed on his every move as he stepped up onto the table. He lay down as though he owned the room.

Joseph is a 10-year-old male cheetah who lives at Cheetah Outreach in Somerset West. Cheetah Outreach is a local conservation and education organisation that serves to save Cheetahs in the wild by educating the public.

Wild cheetahs are often killed by farmers who are forced to protect their livestock from these predators. Most of the funds raised go towards their Anatolian Shepherd Guard Dog programme which places the dogs on farms to ward off cheetahs, and in so doing dissuade farmers from hunting the cats.

If you'd like to get involved, or support Cheetah Outreach in some way, visit their website for a list of ways in which you can help.

Peninsula trip stop 7: Dinner at Cape to Cuba

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Peninsula trip stop 7: Dinner at Cape to Cuba
Dinner at Cape to Cuba in Kalk Bay was awesome. Their service was snappy, they had half-price cocktails (between 5pm and 7pm) and the array of unusual dishes were both tasty and pretty well priced.

If you enjoy eclectic décor, beach sand, good service, then visit Cape To Cuba in Kalk Bay - it was pretty awesome. :)

Peninsula trip stop 6: Boulders Penguin Colony

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Peninsula trip stop 6: Boulders Penguin Colony
Contrary to what Pixar would have you believe, penguins don't all live in the icy Arctic regions - we have plenty of African penguins along our shores. Two places that you'll more than certainly see penguins is at Betty's Bay, and this place, Boulders Beach.

What's awesome about Boulders Beach is that it's a regular beach where people are allowed to bathe in the sun and swim in the ocean together with the penguins. Entry to Boulders Beach is paid for and strictly controlled as not to overcrowd the penguins.

Peninsula trip “stop” 5: Chapman’s Peak Drive

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Peninsula trip stop '5": Chapman's Peak Drive
Chapman's Peak Drive is one of the most scenic routes in the Cape Town area. The area that you see in this photo is known as Hout Bay, or as locals often refer to it, the Republic of Hout Bay.

As with our previous "stop" at Camps Bay, we never actually stopped on Chapman's Peak Drive since were in a rush to get around the mountain into Noordhoek, and over the hills into Simon's Town for our last official stop before hitting Kalk Bay for dinner.

Peninsula trip “stop” 4: Camps Bay

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Peninsula trip stop 3: The V&A Waterfront
By the time we hit the Camps Bay part of our Peninsula trip I realised that we were running out if time pretty quickly and it would be impossible to make time to stop for a walk on Camps Bay beach. The weather was (as you can see) pretty much perfect for a day at the beach, but we had bigger birds to fry, so we headed off along Victoria Road in the direction of Hout Bay.

Peninsula trip stop 3: The V&A Waterfront

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Peninsula trip stop 3: The V&A Waterfront
Some of our little tour group hadn't yet visited the V&A Waterfront, so we made this the third stop of our one-day peninsula trip.

Our party spent about an hour visiting the Blue Shed craft market - where they bought a few African treats. I thought about swinging past one of the roadside informal markets to get a better deal, but time wasn't on our side, so we paid the premium Waterfront prices (which weren't actually so expensive, anyway).

Once done buying souvenirs, we headed over to Quay 4 for a quick bite to eat before boarding our shuttle to the next destination...

Peninsula trip stop 2: The Company’s Garden

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Peninsula trip stop 2: The Company's Garden
The second stop of our trip around the peninsula was at the Company's Garden. The word "Company" in the name referrers to the Dutch East India company, who were the first European settlers to land and set up a base at Cape Town. The Company's Garden was established by the commander, Jan Van Riebeeck, to grow produce to supply passing ships with food.

For their historical significance, the gardens are today considered a national monument.

More flowers above

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Purple flowers above
I was in two minds whether or not to post yesterday's photo, or this one that I'm posting today - I liked them both, almost equally. I'm curious though, which do you prefer? Please leave a comment - yesterday's or today's? :)

Spring water… and snow

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Spring water... and snow
Yes the title of this post is misleading... and rather clever, if I do say so myself. :) It's spring in Cape Town and after a warm couple of days it's started raining cats, dogs, piggies, lions and leopards.

It got extremely cold again today - like a winter's revenge kind of cold - and the rain has poured almost all day. And, as the title suggests, it appears that it's even snowed in Stellenbosch (albeit only on the mountain peaks)!

What I'm wanting to know is, who did what to provoke nature's anger?

Craft markets and cacti

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Craft markets and cacti
We happened upon this awesome little stall at Rondebosch Craft Market on Saturday. Isn't this such a cool idea - to grow cacti in pieces of old train sleeper wood? What an awesome idea! :) (Click on the photo to see more detail.)

Visit Rondebosch Craft market every second Saturday of the month between 9am and 2pm at the Rondebosch Park.