The walk started at Thibault Square and hobbled along down St George's Mall to the Company's Gardens - causing somewhat confusion and consternation among the unsuspecting audience. It was, as I'm sure you can imagine, amusing to watch unfold. :)
I'll be sharing a few more photos in the next few posts, but click here if you'd like to see the complete album on our Facebook page.
I don't get it. Why would someone spend an hour or more in a queue - for a burger? Did you? Can you explain this strange phenomenon?
While we have our fair share of Maseratis, Ferraris, Porches and Lamborginis racing around our fair city, they're really not as common as they are in European or American cities - so you may say that I'm just a smidgen deprived. ;)
Besides for the stylish-yet-unpretentious vibe, what's especially great about Sky Bar is the view. The Cape Royale Hotel is the tallest building in the area, which means that while sipping drinks you're treated to a 360° view of the mountains, ocean, and city. :)
We spent about an hour on the roof-top, enjoying the view, drinking cocktails, and eating oysters. We even managed to squeeze in an impromptu neck and shoulder massage, at Sky Bar, courtesy of the hotel's Equinox Spa (which was, for the record, pretty darn fantastic!).
In a follow-up post I'll share a little more about our dinner at the hotel's in-house Bistro 1800° restaurant, but for now click on the photos below and take a look at the transfixing view of Table Bay and the city from Sky Bar. Pretty awesome, heh?
Each year the World Naked Bike Ride organises an awareness protest against the high levels of carbon emissions in our cities. This weekend was, with Cape Town and the Argus Cycle Tour in fully swing, the perfect time to do so in Cape Town.
I won't bore you with what we all know about carbon monoxide and the excessive use of combustible fuel, but what I guess is worth mentioning is that if Cape Town were legislatively a more bike-friendly city (like say Paris, Amsterdam, or San Francisco is) then we'd probably have fewer cars on the road, less pollution in the air, fitter-leaner friends, and more money to spend of the fun things in life, rather than on petrol and vehicle maintenance!
The reality is though that even if a large proportion of the city's inhabitants became lean-mean-cycling-machines, the poorer folk who can't afford to fix their smelly-stinky vehicles will still drive smelly-stinky vehicles, the more affluent will still drive their large gas-guzzling 4x4s and muscle cars, and businesses trying to squeeze every penny out to survive still won't send trucks spewing black fumes to the mechanic or graveyard.
All of this said, still, if we were able to make Cape Town cyclist-friendly, and if we were able to separate where cars, buses, and trucks ride from where cyclists do, it would go a long way to reducing our carbon footprint and creating healthier, happier people.
This road reminded me a little of San Francisco. Not that Cape Town is by any means as hilly, but still, I find the rises in the distance somewhat reminiscent of that great West Coast city.
I used to work in the city a few years ago, and at that time I appreciated it greatly - not for the stores, but for the underground walkways. They offered a way to avoid having to wait for traffic lights to cross busy roads, and also provided shelter from the rain for much of the 10 minute walk between the train station and our office building.
On to my review. The service was perfect, and as mentioned, the venue was spectacular. I found the restaurant's menu to be very limited - which, in retrospect, was probably a good thing given my incredible indecisiveness when presented with an extensive menu. Even though the choices were limited, the lack of option was more than adequately made up for by the quality of the food - it was truly outstanding. We ordered dessert after our main meal, which I'm sad to say never lived up to (not even came close to) the standard set by the main meal. The waffles were a little soft, and the meager portion of ice cream not particularly tasty. It's a shame that our evening ended on that note, but still, I'd certainly recommend Tobago's, with caution to avoid the waffles if you're a connoisseur I believe as I am. :)
The Woodlands Eatery has a pretty relaxed feel, our lunch appeared on our table in a reasonable amount of time and the staff were friendly, though not intruding.
The part of the establishment in this photo is mostly used for evening dining - but I decided to post it to show some of the eclectic decor that fills the little restaurant. Unusual, interesting, and pretty awesome, don't you think?
Dogs love to run free on the beaches, chasing balls and crashing though waves, but the reality is that there have been incidents where innocent kids have been attacked and where people who are desperately afraid of dogs have been traumatised. Since law enforcement officers aren't able to tell the difference between a dangerous animal and a friendly puppy, and since people who are afraid of dogs couldn't care if the dogs would never attack them, it makes sense to compromise in the way the City has.
For what it's worth, I took this photo after 18h00, so these friendly four-leggeds were allowed on the beach, but since they weren't on a leash I believe the owners were in fact breaking the law - perhaps unbeknownst to them.
You have no idea how tempted I was to flip a few of these switches.
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? :)
Calm before the storm? I'm not sure. We had a bitterly cold winter, and we survived, so perhaps our supply of energy is under control.
Two guys approached us shortly after taking this photo - asking for directions to some street I'd never heard of - Hofmeyer, I think it was. Anyway, perhaps it's an interesting testimony to modern city life that for some time after they first introduced themselves I kept a cautious distance, not completely sure that they weren't muggers.
As it turned out, their British accents were legit, and it seemed as though the were genuinely unable to find the party that they were searching for. We spent a few minutes trying to find Hofmeyer road on Google maps, but they eventually gave up and decided to phone a friend.
It was the first time I've eaten at Rafikis, and I have to say the pizza wasn't bad at all. The bases were thin and crispy, just how I like them, and the Inferno chili pizza that I ordered was pretty tasty and not quite as hot as I'd imagined it may be.
It rained so much in Cape Town on Saturday and Sunday that the banks of the Liesbeek River burst leading to the M3 highway (near UCT) being knee-deep in water! Take a look at the photos, and read this article on IOL.
Do the roads around your city ever flood? Isn't it scary when your car hits water that's deeper than you expect it to be?!
I'm not really one for driving about on a motorbike - not because I don't think they're fun, but because I have far too many friends who've spent far too long in hospital because of them. Broken bones, disfigurement, and loss of limbs for the kick of adrenaline and the ability to beat the traffic? I don't think so.
What I did find was an interesting directory on the Western Cape Government site (operated separately to the City of Cape Town site). The directory appears to list all kinds of Western Cape government departments and services along with contact numbers, addresses, and email addresses and opening times. The site's presentation is (at the time of writing) a little old-school, but the content appears really useful and easy to consume - which is what we want, isn't it?
In case you're in the mood to grab a few buddies and walk this path, I've drawn a map that starts where I parked and follows a route along a footpath. The walk will take around 30 minutes, depending on how many photos you stop to take. :)
Yesterday's photo showed the city center, with a large low-lying cloud bank crawling in from Table Bay. I walked along the edge of Signal Hill from the spot where I took that photo until I could see more of the harbour. Well, "see" is a stretch - all I could see was the top of that oil rig (looking a little like an alien space ship) rising up from beneath the cloud.
There are a few great places to walk along the slopes of Signal Hill, but do be careful and hike in groups - I imagine remote spots like these could be perfect for muggings.
I arrived in the city - the mist was thick and the sun shone brightly from above, silhouetting buildings and bridges though the cloud. It was the strangest feeling driving from a place that was sunny and warm (only 25 kilometers away) to a chilly city filled with cloud.
Doesn't the cloud out in the bay look awfully ominous?
We took a quick drive into Montpellier, and given what we saw (how beautiful the place is) I'm fairly certain that hiring this venue for a wedding would cost a pretty penny... however, it really is very pretty - and probably perfect if you'd love to get married out in the country.
Perhaps you know that the city of Montpellier is in southern france. Do distinguish this estate, its full name is "Montpellier De Tulbagh" (or "Montpellier Du Cap", as noted at their front gates).
So, on a whim, I scoured a few online accommodation sites and booked two nights away in Tulbagh, a small town that's a short 121 kilometers from the City (here's a route map).
I took this photo at the guest house where we stayed - a rural estate about 3 kilometers outside the town. Over the next few days I'll share with you more of what we saw in and around Tulbagh.
Through the doors you're able to see an industrial area, located just outside of Cape Town city, named Paarden Island. I find it super-interesting to drive around industrial areas - to see the types of businesses that operate. It's often really surprising what one finds! If you haven't done so before then perhaps you should take a drive through an industrial area. Really, it can be interesting. :)
Many years ago, probably up until around the time my dad was born (which was a long time ago, dad ;) ) Cape Town use to have a tram system. In 1935 the city introduced its first trolleybus (which looked a lot like the buses we know today) which gradually led to the tram system being decommissioned in 1939.
