Christmas Holiday in
Cape Town.....
As I hinted at, here is
a travelogue of our trip to Cape Town all be it a tad late - we have been in
Cape Town since the 14th of December, so I haven't really had the
oomph to do anything technology wise - life is a beach - what can I say.
Anyway to begin...... We
arrived to a downpour and grey skys more reminiscent of London than Cape Town,
not at all what we were expecting .... we wanted sunny sky's, well sunny skys
is mostly the norm in South Africa but when on holiday one more or less demands
it, so here we were in the pouring rain, why Manchester City football club was
here I am not to sure but here is a photo for the fans.... are you out there
fans ????
We had hired a Kia Picanto, a car more like a large rollerskate than
a car (maybe I should have hired two - one for each foot, to make things worse
the car hire company had parked it at the farthest end of the lot, so there was
I dashing through the rain then trying to load up the rollerskate with a ton of
luggage (we travel heavy) my wife Pam bringing up the rear, and finally soaking
wet we pulled out into the traffic and off to visit my sister in Somerset-West
(Near cape Town).
We stayed at a marvellous apartment in a block called Echo
Terrace in Fish Hoek with the most exquisite views of False Bay
and across the bay to the small sea side town of Kalk Bay and to the right
across to Strand and Gordon's Bay.
The next day was still
pretty miserable so we went for a swim in the sea, yes it is cold.... damn cold
at about 16C and then off to Kalk bay for a bit of retail therapy and lunch at
a great little restaurant called the Live Bait.
A day later we awoke to
the most perfect weather and a day of hard labour - lying on the beach occasionally
having to roll over to sun the other side or drift to the shop for lunch, this
was duly followed by some more baking in the sun, then a swim to cool off in
beautiful azure blue sea, then a good long walk down the beach to get
some exercise, exercise also entailed waking down to the beach
from our flat and back up again in the evening inclusive of 121 stairs.
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| View from our apartment |
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| View to Kalk Bay |
The days then just
seemed to roll one into one another ... beach.....swim....beach... eat... walk.... sleep....
beach....swim....beach... eat.... walk.... sleep.... OK you get the picture.
Then there was another
bad day..... so off to Cape Town and the V&A
Water Front for a bit more retail therapy and some more eating,
first to a restaurant for some refreshments - glass of wine for Pam
and a Kwak for me (Kwak is a Belgium beer served in a very
interesting glass) and then off to our usual Sushi restaurant for a late lunch.
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| View of Table Mountain from V&A Waterfront |
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| V&A Water Front |
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| V&A Water Front
|
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| V&A Water Front
|
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| Kwak Beer |
Then some more days
of ... beach.....swim....beach... eat... walk.... sleep....
beach....swim....beach... eat.... walk.... sleep.... Still get the
picture..... Good!!
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| Fish Hoek Beach |
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| Fish Hoek Beach |
On the 21st
we were strolling back to the apartment when Pam decided to demonstrate how to
elegantly nose dive straight into a rather unforgiving concrete walkway.
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| Grazed Wrist |
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| Grazed, Bruised Knee |
Now if you have ever
heard a bag of wet cement dropped that is exactly what it sounded like, and she
didn’t even finish off the manoeuvre with a bounce, see above photos for graphic
detail of the injuries, she was extremely lucky not to have broken her nose as
well
On the 23rd we had an
early dinner at a rather stunning wine farm called Highland Road Estate where we partook of
some excellent wine and pizza's cooked fresh in their own pizza oven and this
all on a jetty like deck next to a small lake, Excellent
stuff couldn't get better if it tried hard!!!!
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| Lunch Deck |
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| Pizza Oven |
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| Vineyards |
On Christmas Eve we had
a bit of undue excitement at 15:25, we were all minding our own
affairs....sunbathing......swimming.....eating....
(Stop the story.... we
have sharks in south Africa..... LARGE SHARKS...... and so in Fish Hoek they
post Shark spotters up on the mountain above the swimming beach, when a shark
is spotted entering the bay they radio down to the life guards who set off the
sirens and change the warning flags and get the people out of the water before
they get eaten)
On with the story…. Off went
the sirens, up went the white flag with the black shark (means shark been
spotted) and out of the water stormed the people except for one deluded idiot
who decided to rather stay in and had to be physically dragged out by the life
guards endangering not only himself but them also, they should have left him
swimming and cleaned up the gene pool a bit.
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| Shark Warning sign |
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| Notice Board |
My sister Marganne and her husband Brian very kindly had us to
Christmas lunch at their house in Somerset West with one of their daughters
Robyn and a friend of theirs Peter whom Brian knows from the NSRI (National Seas Rescue Institute).
A rather delicious lunch of pork, chicken, lamb, veggies and finished off with
a trifle and profiteroles.
Then back to Fish Hoek
for some more .... sleep...... walk..... eat.... no swim, beaches
were literately swamped with people, so a long leisurely walk down
the beach to Kalk Bay was the order of the day, of course food was involved
with lunch at the Olympia Cafe then a
bit of shopping then onto Cape to Cuba for some refreshments (read
beer and wine) and relaxing listening to live music..... and now back to the
apartment to relax......
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| Pam Relaxing on the outside patio at Cape to Cuba |
Finally the holiday came to an end with dinner at the Polana restaurant in Kalk Bay, a excellent seafood tapas completed the evening
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| Seafood Tapas |
The 28th December came round all too quickly with a flight back to Johannesburg and Home ..... The End...
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