Cape Town

We had breakfast in the Kings Court, looking out over the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. In the Kings Court you no longer serve yourself, the waiters serve you. I actually quite like this, I think it’s better than using the same serving utensils that everyone else has been using. After breakfast we headed to the Chart Room to meet up for our tour. The rain had stopped, but it was still quite cool.

Our first stop was at the Table mountain cable car. They have done away with the old cable cars, and now have large ones that rotate so everyone gets a good view. This is a brilliant idea.

It was freezing at the top, and because of the clouds/mist visibility wasn’t that good, but it was still wonderful to be up there. And to admire the amazing views of Cape Town and the surrounding area.

However, there is only so much gazing at beauty I can enjoy in freezing windy weather, and being the coward that I am, we went to the café to have coffee and a hot cholate to warm up before we had to face the elements to get to the cable car again for our downward journey.

Once back on the coach I started to warm up and enjoyed our drive around Cape Town with our guide giving a very informative running commentary.

We went from Camp’s Bay to the down town area, passing by the lighthouse near to where my grandparents used to live. My grandmother called it the Moaning Minnie, and it used to keep me awake at night with its constant moaning, warning passing sailors trying to sail through the thick fog.

We stopped by the Castle, which is actually a fort and learnt about the early history of Cape Town.

Our guide pointed out the beautiful City Hall building. It is currently being used by the legislature as someone burnt down the parliament building a few years ago. I suppose they are really lucky to have another place to use while they are working out how to restore the building.

The steps of City Hall have a wonderful historic significance. This is where Nelson Mandela gave his first speech after being released from prison, and also where he gave his first speech after being made president. There is a statue of him to commemorate these momentous occasions.

Our next stop was at Bo-Kaap, the Cape Malay  quarter, to see the brightly colored houses, and then we drove to Langa township for lunch.

Langa is one of the oldest townships in Cape Town. I must admit I was a bit dubious about going there, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. We had lunch at Mzanzi restaurant. There, we were greeted by a band playing great music, and treated to a delicious buffet lunch. I asked the band if they had any CDs or if their music was available for downloading. Unfortunately it is not, a huge missed opportunity I thought. I would love to have been able to listen to them when I sit on our deck back home, and dream of our African adventure. They were totaly amazing.

After that we went to the Groot Constantia winery, the oldest winery in South Africa. They say that Jefferson kept bottles of Groot Constantia wine at Monticello.

All the wines we tasted were excellent, and at about $7.50 a bottle, we bought several bottles to take back to the ship. Even with having to pay corkage in the dining room, they are a great value.

Before we knew it we had to return to the ship. Although sail away wasn’t until 8:00 PM, as we all have to go through face-to-face South African immigration, we had to be back at the port by 5:00. There wasn’t time to do our Coke shopping, so we went straight to join the immigration queue.

Finally, one hour later, we were able to get back on the ship. I had bought a scarf, and went to claim the VAT tax rebate. They very conveniently had customs officers on board on deck 2, and the paperwork was easily done. While I was waiting my turn in the queue, it suddenly struck me – where are the Easter decorations? I mean it is Easter Saturday, where are the bunnies and chicks? Certainly not in the Grand Lobby. Hopefully I will find them elsewhere on the ship.

Back in the stateroom we got ready for dinner – keeping a look out for us sailing at 8:00. We had been hoping to watch us sailing away in daylight, Cape Town is one of my favorite harbors, and I had been looking forward to watching Table Mountain fade away into the distance.

Then the captain announced that due to high winds our departure would be delayed by 2 hours.

By the time we finished dinner we were still in port, so we went to the Commodore Club for a night cap to watch the sail away. However, it really didn’t look like we were going anywhere, so we decided to call it a night.