An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
What a fabulous day!!
We enjoyed a full South African breakfast, prepared by Trevor, of fresh fruit salad, eggs with bacon, and warm croissants. Then Budget came and drove Milton back to their office in our new Mercedes C200, even though the plan was supposedly for them to bring the car to us. They’re a bit more conscientious here, and instead of the American “here’s the keys”, they spent several minutes explaining everything (”these are the lights”). Then it was back behind a wheel on the right and driving on the left. Not so bad, though.
We motored off toward the southern peninsula, stopping first at the Rhodes Memorial. Cecil R. was a great English empire builder (Rhodesia), who made a fortune in diamonds in the late 1800s, then spent the rest of his short life ruling the Cape province and trying to expand British rule in Africa. The memorial is grand, gray and granite, with many pillars, lions and a large sculpture of the man himself. It is set into the East facing side of Table Mountain with an impressive sweeping view into the Cape flats. (impressive enough that there was a fashion shoot going on)
Next stop (not counting the BP station to get directions) was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Absolutely one of the most wonderful places we’ve ever spent time. Set in rolling hills at the base of the mountains, it is home to hundreds of trees and plants indiginous to southern Africa. The weather was perfect, and we strolled the many paths and lounged on many of the benches, admiring the views of the mountainsides and the valley, and the tremendous variety of greenery (dessert-type spiny succulents, many palms (including one with the largest leaves in the world), big leafy trees, several flowers (though the season was clearly ending)).
Then it was a fascinating experience at the World of Birds. It is a large park, with 104 (yes, 104) separate aviaries of varied sizes, all containing different types of birds. One walks through each aviary (they’re divided by screen doors), coming literally face-to-face with penguins, owls of all shapes and sizes, the most multi-colored parrots, ibises, mccaws, and crowned cranes, and being a fence apart from ostriches, eagles, vultures, etc., etc. Incredible!! (thought of you, ALR). They also had several different types of monkeys, which were certainly entertaining to watch. We finally od’ed on our fine feathered friends, so we continued our drive down the eastern edge toward the Cape of Good Hope.
Lunch was just south of Simon’s Town (home to the South African Navy) at the Black Marlin. We started with a seafood salad and some delicious coconut-tempura prawns. Entrees were a grilled yellowtail and a seafood pasta, which was quite delicately seasoned, and excellent. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with a medley of flavorful fresh berries. We shared our leftover fish with a grateful gray cat, who had been lounging by our table awaiting our entrees. Then a short drive to the Cape Nature Preserve, and a funicular ride up to the old light house at the southern tip of the continent. The views were stupendous, the beaches beautiful, the oceans the deepest blue, and the mountains running the length of the peninsula were majestic. We spoke with some Singapore Airlines flight attendants (who were almost as pretty as the ads) and some windsurfers from Lusanne, before walking back to the car, since the funicular had quit for the evening.
We took our time driving back to town, going up the western edge and watching the (extraordinarily bright) setting sun. The drive was somewhat redolent of Big Sur as it wound along the coast above large, white pristine beaches. The road - Chapman’s Peak Drive - is carved high into the mountainside, and all along we saw cars pulled over and couples with wine bottles sitting on the wall watching the sunset. We opted instead for the frequent-stop method, allowing for many photo-ops of the sun setting over the water, the fog creeping and hanging over the mountains, and the small beach towns way below.
Then it was dark so we drove back into town and up Signal Hill, which afforded a lovely view of Capetown at night, with the facade of Table Mountain lit up, and a long wedge of fog coming through a pass in the mountains looking as though it were being poured.
We’d certainly absorbed enough for one day, so we went back home and took our first (of 15 weekly) malaria pills, wondering what hallucinations we could look forward to this evening.