Cape Town

Cape Town, the Mother City, is beautifully situated on the south western tip of this great continent. As the Mother City, not only is she steeped in history as the oldest city in the country, but she’s warm and welcoming. Cape Town has struggled with equality for generations, but she seems to be overcoming that by embracing everyone.

Cape Town was aptly named because it is on the coast surrounded by so many welcoming capes. The Dutch first created a settlement here in the mid-seventeenth century as a stopping point from Europe to their trading points in the East. When they first landed, they were thrilled to see natives with cattle and goats that they could trade with for fresh meat. The Dutch, as they began to settle the area brought with them enslaved peoples from Madagascar and the east coast of Africa as well as skilled laborers from Asia, most specifically Indonesia. In the early nineteenth century, the British took over. 

We had about a week in Cape Town. Our time was lovely, but we did not count on difficult weather that impeded some of our plans. After a month of traveling, we were in an apartment where we were free to curl up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and watch romantic comedies, most of which we could already quote. It is winter here, which I knew coming in, but the temperatures I had read about did not match what we encountered. Mid-60s and sunshine is very different from upper-50s with clouds and strong winds. But this just lead to shopping opportunities for us both! As in the winter, when days are short, and I’m prone to want to hibernate, I believe we both felt that, and embraced short days when the sun didn’t shine until around eight and it got dark by six. I do believe, however, that had we been here in different circumstances, we may have checked more things off our list. 

We had several “big days” that included things like our delicious food tour of Cape Town and another day driving south to see the penguins. On the Fourth of July, we booked a wine tram through wine country. It was so well done, so well organized, and so much fun! The countryside was beautiful, even though the grape vines were in a period of rest. A few notes to anyone else who may choose to do this: research the wineries on your trail ahead of time as we did, so we knew which ones we wanted to get to. Another lesson I learned (the hard way), is that it is not the best idea to squeeze in the maximum number of visits in the day, despite the desire to see them all. Visiting and sampling at five wineries meant the ones toward the end were well, um, not as “memorable.”

Another day, we went on a free walking tour around the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. It was great, and oh so informative. Those early Asian skilled laborers that were brought here first developed this area as their own, which is why there are so many mosques in the area. The mosques were welcoming places for all to learn, including many of the enslaved peoples, whom after receiving such generosity as a free education, often converted to Islam. It is why still today, Cape Town has the highest population of Muslims in the country.

In 1934, due to the crowds that were living in this neighborhood of the city, the area was deemed an undesirable slum. Slowly but surely, people realized the value of this land, so central to downtown. The families who owned these homes are now struggling to hold on to them due to gentrification. It has also become so popular because of how beautifully bright colored all the buildings are painted. There are lots of stories as to why they are so brightly colored, such as different colors represent different skills of the laborers, or because the uniforms they had to wear were so drab, they wanted to express themselves in other ways. But, the bright colors didn’t come about until the late 1990s. It seems, instead, to simply be a form of expression, celebrating freedom and the rainbow of the city.

On a rainy day, we ventured into Zeitz Museum, a contemporary African Art Museum. It was lovely, but neither of us is cultured enough to truly appreciate modern art. 

Twice we had tickets to Robben Island, the prison island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades. A former prisoner was going to show us around and tell us more about this political prison. However, weather meant that the ferry to the island didn’t run. After seeing the waves along the coast, we were disappointed but very thankful that the call was made for our safety.

As for the weather, most of what we encountered wasn’t much more than a torrential downpour or a light thunderstorm that we may encounter (we did have sunny days and hours mixed in, too!). At home, these would have canceled soccer games, and perhaps dinner plans with those friends you see all the time. But here, this weather was extreme. Many things were cancelled or closed due to the weather, even an indoor market we tried to venture out to. It was the winds that made this weather ever the more ferocious. There were several nights that the loud howling gusts of winds woke us both throughout the night. I must admit that at multiple points through the night, I wondered if we’d wake up in Oz, carried away like Dorothy. One morning, we even woke up to a pile of ice pellets in the corner of our vast porch, left from the hail through the night.

We found that shopping in Cape Town was really fun. This was for a few reasons. First off, there were some great items, some of which we had seen along the way through our travels on the continent, and some were new. Second, for just about the first time, things were fairly inexpensive because prices were not in dollar. Third, possibly most importantly was that this was our last stop, so we didn’t have to carry it on anywhere else! On days when the weather wasn’t great, shops welcomed us with open arms. We enjoyed shopping in stores along the waterfront, a fun area reminiscent of piers along California’s Bay Area. A huge, bustling mall even sat on the waterfront, very different from our own desolate, crumbling malls at home. The Watershed was a huge warehouse with little stalls throughout where artists sold their creations.  On the worst weather day, we ventured out to the Old Biscuit Mill where we had read the indoor weekend markets were always fun and filled with foods and crafts. The storms had closed most of the market, but thankfully a few small stores were open to look through.

The inexpensive prices also meant we treated ourselves to some delicious meals at some swanky places for reasonable prices. My favorite was Bouchon Wine Bistro where we each got two tapas that were creative and the perfect serving size along with a sweet dessert. As this country is still part of the British Commonwealth, we partook in one of our favorite British traditions of English Tea, twice! Once was on a sunny afternoon in the gardens, and once was at a fancy resort outside of town that overlooked the churning ocean waves.

On a sunny afternoon, we ventured to the outskirts of town to the Botanical Gardens. They were vast, expansive green areas in the shadow of Table Mountain. Even on a winter day, the grasses were lush and green and a few spots of color could be seen. Guineas wandered about, no doubt safe from most predators, although there were large dinosaurs present in the part that included ancient plant life. There was even a walk through the woods designed for people with poor vision, complete with a large rope to hold on to a guide you as well as explanatory signs in Braille.

We had a walking tour through District Six scheduled, but (un?)fortunately, that fell through. So, we went into the District Six Museum and paid the extra $1 to have someone who grew up in the area tell us her stories as she showed us around. Frances was the most adorable, fascinating person, and I’m only sorry that our time with her was limited. District Six is an area of town that was once deemed a slum, and the thousands of people squeezed into this area were neglected on all different fronts. Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, this area became prime real estate due to the location between the mountain and the beach, so the wealthy whites wanted it for their own.

As Frances tells it, her childhood here was happy. She said it was crowded and there wasn’t good sanitation, but people of all sorts were squeezed into the tiny area, supporting one another and learning from one another. Jews, Muslims, Catholics and Protestants all lived happily here. Whites, blacks and colored (I’ll get to that in a minute) lived side-by-side. Frances even remembered the gay men in the neighborhood who taught them all to dance. When this area became desirable, with very little notice, everyone was forced to move out of town into segregated housing before the buildings were all bulldozed. She spoke of a favorite doll she had had to leave behind and how decades later, it was found in some of the rubble.

Where the word “colored” is no longer acceptable in the United States, it is a term that has been and continues to be used today as an a description for a race of people. Black was deemed as the dark skin color, more associated with African descent. Colored is used to describe anyone in between. It often describes people with a mix of Asian and African descent. Names in South Africa are also very telling of lineage. For example, one of our guides described herself as colored, but because of her last name, she was quite certain that her descendants had been enslaved peoples brought in. Her last name was January, most likely because her descendants were forced off the boat in Cape Town in January. Her sister just married an October.

There were so many features of Cape Town that made it unique and special. Not only is on the southern coast of a great continent, but its geography is fascinating. Within the city boundaries, there is ground at sea level and ground at well over 3,000 feet. Table Mountain, so named by the Portuguese over five hundred years ago, is just as one would expect, tall and flat. There are several beautiful peaks in the area, available for climbing, but Table Mountain is the most well-known. If you’ve followed us for long, you know Jessica and I love to hike and have climbed our fair share of mountains. We probably should have climbed it, but with questionable weather, colder than anticipated temperatures and some trail reviews that included ladders, we cheated. Table Mountain has a cable car that goes to the top. On a beautiful afternoon with little wind (it was closed during some of our stay due to wind), we raced up to catch the view. At the top, since it is flat, there was a very nice and accessible trail to wander around, and a cafe where we got hot chocolate with a view!

Many people we encountered, including some of the locals made us cautious about our safety while being in Cape Town. We never felt unsafe, although, just as in any big city, especially one with stark differences in wealth, there were lots of reports of pick-pockets. So, just as any good traveler would do, we were cautious and aware of our surroundings.

There were many things left undone in Cape Town, like visiting Robben Island and a bustling Old Biscuit Mill weekend market. Paragliding off Table Mountain sounded like a fun adventure (that I’ve enjoyed in other places), but, you remember how I thought I’d wake up in Oz, right? I would love to be out on the water there, especially to see a sunset. We had even looked at going cage diving to see sharks, but in reviews it seems that many of the great whites have been scared away from these waters from orcas controlling the waters. (And also, did I mention how chilly it was?) 

I’ve left Cape Town behind, but not as a checked item on my list, but rather a city that intrigued me that I hope will welcome me back again sometime.