Since soccer season starts tomorrow and things will get quite a bit busier then, I wanted to go ahead and post about "Part 3" of our South African adventure... Cape Town! Although this will wrap up my blogging about our World Cup trip, I'm still not all caught up on the blog yet... I know, I know... it seems like I'm always behind! Unlike last year though, I promise to keep blogging during soccer season, so I will get posts up about our time in Croatia and Bavaria soon. But for now, let's get back to Africa....
On Thursday, June 24th, we took a short flight west from Johannesburg to Cape Town. After getting our rental car, driving 20 minutes outside the city to the apartment we rented, and grabbing a delicious dinner at a cafe down the hill, we were pretty beat and crashed for the night. Friday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to check out Cape Town, so we grabbed some pastries at a local bakery and headed to the downtown waterfront. Despite a blanket of fog that was slowly trying to dissipate, we both really liked the vibe of the area with its neat shops and restaurants lining the piers. It actually reminded me of San Francisco, so it made me a bit homesick for California!
With the World Cup still going strong, there was a FIFA Fan tent right on the waterfront, and there they had a "kicking speed" contest, so of course Daniel and I had to give it a go. Not surprisingly, Daniel smoked it at 93 km/h! As for me, I was the only girl in line, and all the men looked a bit surprised when I stepped up to take a turn. I shocked them even more when I kicked the ball 91.8 km/h, which happened to be the new female record! I was pretty stoked... I even won a little soccer ball. They didn't have a marker to change the scores right then, but I know in my heart that I was Number 1 :)
Before we leaving the Victoria & Alfred waterfront, we did some souvenir shopping, including at a very American looking mall... Cape Town is actually the most American-like city I have seen outside of the States, which made us both feel quite at home. With the haze burning off, we could finally see Table Mountain looming behind the city, and after grabbing some lunch, we decided to go check out the view from atop it.
At the base of Table Mountain, the sun was shining brightly so we knew we'd have a clear view from the top. We jumped on the cable car and headed up.
The panorama that greeted us at the top was absolutely breathtaking! We wandered from view point to view point taking it all in... it seemed almost heavenly. Since we've become quite the shutterbugs, needless to say we took tons of photos up there. Here are the best ones....
Before we knew it, the sun had started to go down, so we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the southern Atlantic. In the other direction, a full moon made for some neat photos too. With darkness descending, we made it back down to the base of Table Mountain, allowing us to see the city all lit up at night, and that evening we had some yummy sushi down in Cape Town... any time we are near the ocean, we always try to take advantage and eat some sushi :)
We had set aside Saturday as our day to drive around the peninsula on which Cape Town sits. First thing that morning though, Daniel walked down to Fish Hoek beach near we were staying and took some lovely photos of the sunrise.
Once we hit the road, we headed south... first stop was Boulders Beach, where a colony of African penguins live. It was really neat to observe these birds in their natural habitat... of course, we had lots of fun snapping shots of the penguins' interaction. As we were walking back to where we parked our car, we saw one of the funniest signs ever... "Warning: Please look under your vehicles for penguins"... I don't think you'll see that sign anywhere else in the world!
As we continued south, the weather turned quite nasty. By the time we made it to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve at the bottom of the peninsula, there was rain and a dense layer of clouds hovering over the landscape. Therefore, we decided we'd come back to the Cape of Good Hope the next day so we headed around to the western side of the peninsula. We drove by coastal towns and beaches, making our way to Chapman's Peak Drive... a spectacular scenic road that stretches 9 km between the towns of Noordhoek and Hout Bay. Thankfully, the sun was trying hard to break through by the time we made it to this part of the drive. We stopped several times along the route to take pictures and to take in the exceptional views... we even saw a rainbow at one point!
In Hout Bay, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant recommended in our travel guide... there we had some of the best calamari ever. It was sooo good! After finishing up our drive around the peninsula, we went to check out Cape Town's oldest winery, Groot Constantia, which was established in 1685. In addition to seeing the ground's Old Manor House and vineyards, we also did some wine tasting. While Daniel and I have come to enjoy wine since living in Europe, we definitely do not have "sophisticated palates" if you will, so we found it a bit funny during the tasting to hear how serious the wine stewards were when describing the different the wines. Compare that to us... "Well, I think these wines are pretty good" :)
Following the wine tasting, we decided to rest up for the evening since we were heading back into Cape Town to watch USA vs. Ghana in the Round of 16. That night we went to the Fan Zone right on the waterfront to catch the game on the big screen. Not surprisingly, American fans were vastly outnumbered... since Ghana was the last African team left in the World Cup by that point, all Africans were rooting them on. However, the few of us USA fans still cheered proudly for our team! Ghana was winning 1-0 by halftime, but then Landon Donovan scored the equalizer about 15 minutes into second half, which ultimately sent the game into overtime. We thought we might pull out the win, but in the end, Ghana won 2-1. Even still, I think the US had a great World Cup showing overall.
Sunday was our last day in South Africa, and the main thing on our agenda was to visit the Cape of Good Hope. We were grateful for the beautiful weather that morning as we drove south once again. Along the way, we saw some more signs you don't see everyday... this time, they were proclaiming the dangers of baboons! The funny thing is that shortly after entering the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, what did we see? Baboons! They were just hanging out near the visitors' center. Daniel kept telling me to get closer to take a picture with them... as you can see in the photo below, I heeded the signs' warnings and didn't get too close! Besides, that is what the zoom on the camera is for. Isn't the baby baboon so cute?!
After the baboon sighting, we hiked up the hill to enjoy the vista. When looking to the west, you see the promontory that is the Cape of Good Hope... the most southern point on the African continent is actually called Cape Point. While we didn't go all the way out to end of Cape Point, we visited the lighthouse located above it. There was an unusual directional marker there... it had no destinations in the southerly direction! The spot also boasted some beautiful views.
Before heading to the airport, we had just enough time to go to lunch. We picked a restaurant near the apartment we had rented... it had a great location, nestled between the harbor and the rocky coastline in the town of Kalk Bay. With one last great meal in our stomachs, we went to catch our flight. Just like our trip down to South Africa, we once again had a layover in Dubai on the way back. Then, two weeks after taking off for South Africa, we landed back in Frankfurt... and to this day, we are still overwhelmed by how amazing the entire trip was!
After reading all three posts about our South African adventure, you can see we had an absolutely incredible time down there! I don't know if another vacation will ever compare... I guess we will see! As always, thanks so much for reading... stay tuned because I promise to blog again soon. Until then, God bless!
