Once again we were up at 6 am – it seems like our default waking time. Down at breakfast we once again enjoyed the hotel’s hospitality. I had an omelette and Kuniko had avocado toast, plus plenty of yogurt and coffee. The breakfast area was a little busier today, but the staff remembered us and brought cappuccinos out – nice touch!
We had a little time before checking out so we went back up to room for packing and journaling, and then left our room with a sigh – it was really one of the best we’ve stayed in. We met Annelize and Robert out front of the hotel and once again popped our suitcase into their trunk. Today we had plans to see the area south of Cape Town. We knew the basic idea was to explore, but as we drove we got a little more detail. They pointed out interesting sights along the way, like their old workplace, or a particularly nice winery, or a place you would never want to go at night. We overheard them discussing whether to take a road that could wash out or come too close to “informal settlements” – in the end they decided to take it and it shaved quite a bit of time off our trip.
Once we passed the aforementioned settlements (people were driving cattle through to forage on the other side of the street) we drove for quite a while next to sandy windswept beaches. The sun was shining brightly and the surf wasn’t too high, and all around us a sort of lily was blooming everywhere and making things more dramatic. We then passed an area famous for brightly colored changing cabins for beachgoers, but we didn’t stop as it looked like all the parking lots were jammed up already. Instead we continued along the coast, until we reached Kalk Bay.
There is a harbor and fish market located there, so we pulled over to stop and look around. Along the coast here ran a train line, and as I asked about the timing of the trains one decided to show up. Although the train was quite modern the stations along the coast were quaint, historic. It seemed like to would be a fun trip to take, but later Kuniko did some research and said they were not very safe in this area.
But the harbor was quite nice. We walked out, passing a lone seal basking in the sun. Robert told a story of an acquaintance who bent over a seal too closely and lost his nose. Lost his nose! We gave the seal a wide berth and instead just strolled down the quay. The weather was perfect, cool but not cold, and beautiful views of the ocean and the town around the harbor. There were tables next to the water but the fleet hadn’t come back yet – only one guy was trying to sell sea bream. They didn’t look too nice to me, but it is how they taste that is important.
Back in the car we continued on to stop at the African penguin preserve. The parking lot had signs posted saying that we should check under our car for hiding penguins before leaving – I guess there have been some escapees in the past. We didn’t have far to walk before coming across some penguins, and then pretty soon they were everywhere. They waddled around in the underbrush, nesting in small spaces that were built to protect them. So cute, quite smelly, and entirely unexpected. I didn’t have penguins on my list of things I expected to see in Africa.
We went back to the car, and Robert chose the moment to give us a few gifts. We had given them a big box of local rice crackers and also a box of different Japanese teas. They said that they liked the rice crackers (yay!) and then they gave us a bottle of wine from Annelize’s winery – a Rupert & Rothschild 2021 Classique. Also Robert gave us two bottles of his homemade peri-peri sauce – one Smokey and one pineapple flavored. He also gave us a big jar of curry pickles… nice!
We drove on down the coast, proceeding towards the Cape of Good Hope along the eastern coastline. We passed a squad of baboon monitors – people whose job was to locals if baboons were liable to approach or damage something. Interesting job! Then we arrived at the gate to the Cape of Good Hope, a national park. We lined up in our car and paid the admission, and then drove about 10 minutes through lots of empty space before we arrive at the parking lot.
Once there we had a choice – to hike up or use the funicular. We chose the funicular because we like riding around on different vehicles, but they decided to hike up the hill. They ended up beating up to the top. But the funicular was cute and fun to ride. Once we got to the top we climbed up to the abandoned lighthouse on the hill, and from there we could enjoy panoramic views of where the Indian and Atlantic oceans met. There was a big carbo freighter out on the water turning the corner – a timely illustration of the significance of this point.
The views were fantastic and because of the weather we could see so far! There was a hidden beach that could only be spotted from up high, but it looked like a secluded hideaway that would be fun to visit – sort of like the hidden Thai beach in The Beach movie. It was so cool to be up there – I had never expected to visit this place, and imagined that we’d spend more time just close to Cape Town. We were so glad that Annelize and Robert could take us to places that were a little out of our normal way.
Back down on the funicular and then we were off again in the car. We continued around the coastline of the cape, heading north on the western side. The countryside had a very European feel – like we were driving the French countryside, but then things would open up and the ocean on your left reminded you of where you were. We passed many sandy beaches, small little towns for vacationers, and tried to visit one winery but it ended up being closed that day. We had decided to wait for a light lunch at the next winery but this meant we continued on without eating – hopefully nobody was starving. We had eaten so much yesterday and for breakfast that we were fine.
Past the winery we drove along Chapman’s Peak. The roads were carved into the cliffs and we had to hope the engineering was sound as we passed under so much stone above us. We hugged the cliffs and stopped for pictures as we reached Hout Bay – these places were looking like postcard photos. In the town of Hout Bay we passed a restaurant called Veldt that they had wanted to take us to, but unfortunately they were booked that night. But as it turned out later, this was probably for the best.
Finally we reached the next winery on our list, Groot Constantia. There were several buses in the lot so the tasting room was packed and very noisy. It took a while to order up our tastings – unfortunately the only food they had was a chocolate tasting and that seemed like a bod idea so we just tasted five of their wines. All of them were of a certain style – I liked the style and especially enjoyed their red wines. The staff poured pretty heavy there, and even gave us a taste of their dessert wine, which was nice.
On the way to the winery Kuniko privately told me that she was starting to feel like she was having a cold. She was starting to sneeze and cough, and so when we got to the dessert wine we donated our glasses to her as a sort of cough syrup remedy. We talked with Robert and Annelize while there and thought that although our original plan was to stick with them through dinner, we didn’t want Kuniko to get them sick and instead maybe our next stop would be our hotel at the waterfront in Cape Town. They understood and were worried about Kuniko – we all were worried – as it seemed to come on suddenly. As I write this a week later she is still coughing pretty aggressively so maybe it was good to be cautious at that point.
The winery was quite close to the waterfront, and so despite my efforts to get them to let me fill up their gas tank we ended up arriving at the hotel before the gas station. There we said goodbye to them, and unlike the friendly handshakes we exchanged when first meeting, the day ended in big hugs. They were so nice to us and made our trip into something much more special.
We went inside our hotel, our first time staying at a Radisson Red hotel. The vibe here was aiming for young and hip – kind of the opposite of us. But at check-in they offered to mix us up a gin and tonic for a welcome drink so that made a good impression. Kuniko and I carried our drinks up to our room – juggling our cocktails and our luggage, and then spread out our stuff to rest. The view from the room was nice – the waterfront, a shipyard, and Table Mountain in the background.
At this point Kuniko was sneezing three or four times a minute, and her cough was getting worse, but we felt like we should probably go out and get some food – we still hadn’t had anything since breakfast. After a little research we found Cape Town Time Out was nearby. We had a great experience at the Lisbon one, an overpriced experience at the Osaka one, and this one fell somewhere in between. We found only one “local food” place so we ordered from there – BBQ lamb ribs and grilled corn, and an oxtail stew with dumplings. We also got a couple of glasses of Pinotage wine – and since the drinks arrived before the food and combined with the gin and tonics we were getting pretty drunk.
But that made the food taste that much better, and Kuniko even requested a bowl of noodles afterwards – a sure sign of inebriation! We had some soupless noodles that were OK, but nothing amazing. Hard to compare with Japan on that front. We walked back through the waterfront – the area was quite nice and we were looking forward to doing more exploration the next day. Back at the hotel we were still hungry and went to the rooftop bar/restaurant for some snacks and a few more drinks. Beer, Cinsault, pulled lamb croquettes, grilled cheese sandwich – lots of food and we were feeling good. The alcohol was a temporary salve to Kuniko’s condition.
While we were partying on the rooftop there weren’t any other customers around. Some people came and looked at the situation and then left again, but we were enjoying the time to ourselves. Eventually we made it back to our room, killed off the leftover wine from Spek & Bone, and then off to bed. It was a wild finish to our day!
