Cape Town

In the southern hemisphere, our summer vacation happens around the Christmas holiday. Schools finish up at the end of November and the new school year doesn't start up again until late January. That's the perfect time to get out of town for a refreshing break and little change of scenery. This year for me that meant Cape Town.

Coming from Namibia, the first things you notice about CT is that it's big (Windhoek is 400,000 people; CT is 4.5 million) and that it's green. Coming from the desert, green is a big deal! CT has a little bit of everything, mountains and beaches, major urban centers and small town main streets, vineyards and beach pubs, huge shopping malls and little vendor markets. There's a little something for everyone. So I and a few friends found a housesitting gig and had a fun-filled holiday vacation.

At about 5am the day after Christmas, four of us crammed into my little VW Polo with no air conditioning and hit the road for the next 15 and a half hours. The drive through southern Namibia offers some gorgeous sweeping views across the desert and then eventually you find the green farmlands of South Africa. And finally, after daylight is long gone you peak over the hill and see the massive lights of Cape Town spread out in the distance below. Everyone was flabbergasted that we would attempt the journey all in one day, but I say better to just get it over with and be there.

Driving south across the Tropic of Capricorn

Oasis in the Desert; crossing the Orange River into South Africa

Our first activity was hiking the famous Table Mountain. We hiked the longer, more scenic Kasteelspoort trail up the back side of the mountain, enjoyed the views from the top, then descended the more direct Platteklip Gorge trail, which is basically a rock staircase of switchbacks all the way down the gorge.

View of Camps Bay and Lion's Head on our way up the Kasteelspoort trail

View over Cape Town from Table Mountain (with Lion's Head on the left and Devil's Peak on the right)

Hiking down through Platteklip Gorge

We spent a day on the lovely white sand of Camps Bay beach with the picturesque peaks of the Twelve Apostles in the background. The Antarctic currents make the Atlantic Ocean water quite brisk, so we mostly just enjoyed walking along the beach or taking a nap while others buried themselves in the sand. We then found our way to Maiden's Cove for a scenic sunset picnic dinner.

Camps Bay beach and the Twelve Apostles from Maiden's Cove

We got to see the penguins at Boulder Beach...

Penguin colony at Boulder Beach 

He's ready for his closeup.

And catch some New Year's Eve fireworks at the V&A Waterfront...

Lots of stages and performers at the NYE party at the Waterfront

New Year's fireworks over the harbor

Another excellent hike we did is the Crystal Pools hike, which is detailed in another post here.

Then on our last night together we hiked up Lion's Head to catch another sunset. This trail snails around the rocky spire of a mountain often with a rock wall to your right and a steep cliff on your left. But the panoramic views from the top are well worth the hike. Once the sun sets you can watch the lights of the city start to come out as you descend. Thankfully we brought our flashlights because we didn't make it down until well after the last glow of twilight had faded from the horizon.

Looking out over the endless sea from the top of Lion's Head

The lights of the city coming out and the 'table cloth' covering Table Mountain

Sometimes vacations seem busier than real life. You are only there a short time so you want to pack in as many fun activities as possible. The key is finding those activities which for you are restful. Then vacation can be both fun and refreshing!