Monday 13th May

Waking up and looking out to a view of Table Mountain and Lions Head was an amazing way to start our few days in Cape Town!

Sunrise was just after 7am, and the light as it rose was simply stunning and it was hard to take my eyes off it and get out of bed! But an exciting day of exploration awaited, so I did get up then undertook a little online restaurant research, which indicated there were lots of good breakfast options nearby. We ended up only about 200m from the building we are staying in on Bree Street, quite close to the city centre, at a little restaurant called Villa 47. Eggs Benedict had two options including one that was carb-free, using grilled whole large mushrooms as the base, rather than English muffins or toast, which I chose, with smoked salmon. It was very good, with the hollandaise freshly made in-house and the poached eggs cooked perfectly. I quite like Eggs Benny, but do not like store-bought hollandaise, and freshly made can also be a bit risky given it includes raw eggs and is kept warm – the perfect conditions for bacteria! Thankfully this wasn’t a commercially made product and it was fresh so not only was the dish tasty – but there also weren’t any ill effects 😉 Dave was happy with his favourite, scrambled eggs on toast and both kids loved their avocado on toast with sides of tomato. The Australian phenomenon of smashed avocado has spread across the whole world!

To give you an idea of costs here – breakfast for four, with coffees was about A$40. (Thanks, Emma, for shouting).

Back to our accommodation, which is on the 23rd floor of a 35-story building at 16 Bree Street. The building has an open-air pool, gym and bar and a very comprehensive security set-up which includes facial recognition to enter the building by foot and fingerprint scanning to enter the car park. After breakfast, we successfully retrieved the car and navigated our way to Table Mountain, where we parked, caught a shuttle bus, then a cable car to the top of the mountain. Hugely impressive and imposing mountains surround the city. I had heard about them and seen them in pictures, but just had no idea how amazing they actually would be. The view from the top was unreal, looking in all directions over the city and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Wow! (hmm… more overuse of that word!)

Next, we returned to the car, and took the road down the coast towards Cape Point, the south-western tip of Africa. The drive took around two hours and included the most amazing views from roads that hugged the cliffs beside the coast. I’m glad Will offered to drive! (Did I tell you how much I loved travelling with these two!). We drove past Hout Bay, Fish Hoek and Smitswinkel before entering the National Park not far from the Cape of Good Hope.

Entry to the park was 400 Rand (A$35) but only 50 Rand for locals. Actually, I appreciate the price difference so that locals are encouraged to visit. Might as well hit the tourists who can likely afford it more! It was extremely windy at the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point (no wonder there has been hundreds of shipwrecks here over the years) but we got to see seals sitting on rocks right beside the Cape, ostriches with babies on the roadside, and the lighthouse which has protected ships from the rugged coastline for hundreds of years. The funicular ride up to the lighthouse was a nice bonus – the wind, and to be honest, the steep walkway and number of steps, might have stopped me going up, otherwise 😉

It was nearly 4pm, so with a one-hour drive back to CT city, it was time to head off. Will had researched the best place and time to see penguins near Simon’s Town, which is a famous area for spotting these adorable birds. Boulders Beach charges about A$20 to park and enter the beach area, but at the very next beach (Seaforth) there was no charge, and there were still lots of penguins for us to see. I know we have them in Australia, but I have never seen them before… they were so cute!

I also have a video – but can’t load it onto the blog so will post it on FB.

We diverted our drive back to the apartment for a quick drive-past of Newlands Cricket Ground. I want to come back here and watch an international game some time!

After arriving back at the apartment around 5:30pm, we had a quick rest and shower before walking to Bouchon Bistro, which I had booked a few weeks ago after reading some fabulous reviews. It was a wine bar/tapas bar, and we chose the 3-course tapas menu option, thoroughly enjoying the 12 different tastes we got to share. My favourite was the Gamberi (prawns, but honestly it was all terrific. I really like eating tapas style – no need for menu envy or getting sick of one big main dish. Other favourites were the Curried Mussels, the Hummus and even the side of buttered vegetables was super tasty!

We shared a couple of bottles of wine and were well ready for bed after our walk back to the apartment. Some areas of CT are not safe to walk around at night, but we felt quite safe in a group of four walking home.

What a fabulous first day in Cape Town. We are all keen to explore it some more over the next few days… starting with a food tour tomorrow. Yay!