What Is A Table Cloth?. Review on Cape Town

Cape Town is the prettiest city in South Africa. It is just below the Table Mountain. When we were there we only saw the table cloth, (clouds), disappear, and we saw the top of the mountain.

The City is 75 kilometers north on the Cape of Good Hope, (the closest place in South Africa), to the Antarctic Continent.

It is the capital city of the Republic. The population is close to 1 ½ million people.

We spent 4 days/3 nights here and stayed at the Cape Grace Hotel, on the west quay.

On the way to the Waterfront from Green Point, the Cape Medical Museum is worth a few minutes. I was most interested in display on Dr James Barrie. She was a woman who kept herself disguised as a man for many years so she could practice as a doctor; she performed the colony's first successful Caesarian operation in 1818.

Bo-Kaap Museum is a small but nice museum. I will give you an insight into the lifestyle of the 19th-century Cape Muslim family. You will learn a bit about the Islamic practice in Cape Town. The house, was built in 1763, and it is the oldest in the area. Many of the Muslim Bo-Kaap residents are descendants of the slaves imported from the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia.

The day we drove to see the Cape of Good Hope, it was raining. By the time we reached the cape the rain had turned to sleet. We huddled together and peered out into the fog, so we could say we saw the cape1

Camps Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches in the city. It is a 15 minutes from Cape Town's city center. The beach has white sand, no life guard and is often windy and again the water is chilly. The beaches on False Bay, to the southeast of the city, are warmer than the one on Campus Bay.

We when to Simon's Town to see the Caper of Good Hope Nature Reserve. This is not a Zoo and the animals roam around in their natural habitat.

Kalk Bay is a fishing village, and we went there to see if we could see any whales.

Most of the people who live in Cape Town lift the Cape Flats. We just drove though there to see how terrible this area is. The streets are dusty, a cow almost hit our bus, and we saw so many fights, I wouldn't go back there again.

At Devil's Peak we saw the expensive residential suburbs. Most of the homes are built on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. We stopped to see the studenty Observatory. When you reach Newlands you'll have no doubt that this a rich and mainly white place to live.

The area around Claremont station is a fascinating study in contrasts. With black and colored traders crowding the streets around posh Cavendish Square mall. At the top you can see the mountain ranges around Stellenbosch.

We drove to Constantia, the oldest wine area in South Africa. We visited 3 vineyards, and were allowed to taste one of their white wines and one of their reds. By noon, we were drunk, and we had to go to Kirstenbosch to have lunch.

After lunch we when to see the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. We saw some Moreton Bay Fig Trees, Camphor Trees, large Oak Trees and some indigenous plants. We saw a koppie, (hill), that has been planted with pelargoniums, a sculpture garden and a section for plants used for muti, (medicine), by the sangomas, (the African tribes healers).

Robben Island, is a prison. We saw the cell that Nelson Mandel lived in.

We ate at the Ashto's Greenways Café, after we toured the hotel.

We took a dinner cruise on the Alabama, it was to cold you go outside by the food was good and we had a great view of Cape Town.

One night our cousins, (who live in Cape Town), took us to the Au Jaurdin restaurant. I'm not fond of French food, but it was quite nice.

The Beluga Restaruant is 100 years old. I was happy that it served food like we eat in Canada.

The last night we ate at the Black Marlin's Loft. The seafood was wonderful.

The next day we took a flight to Johannesburg where we connected to commuter planes to go on a few Safaris.

I loved Cape Town and would go back in a nanosecond, if that's how long it took to get there.

Thanks for reading my review.

©LL2004