Cape Town: Table Mountain, Tour the Cape Peninsula: 2/28

 We got an early start and were first in line to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. We had a 30 minute wait til it opened, but that was better than arriving later. The weather started out clear, and we had great views on our way up and for much of the time at the top.

It's a surprisingly steep ride

Volunteer grounds keepers rappel
down the mountain to pick up
trash from visitors

Groundskeeper working 

I placed one of Jim's marbles next
to this teeny tiny tree, not visible
from the walkway. Wider view below

The view Jim sees

By the time we came back down, the weather had turned and we couldn't see below until we got under the fog/clouds. Back on the bus, we headed toward the Cape Peninsula and several stops. First was Haut Bay, where we met a fisherman who talked about poaching vs survival. Unfortunately, my receiver for the speaker/personal receiver system we use died and there was no replacement. Even though I sat up front, it was mostly lost on me. But the bay was attractive.

Kelp field and gull at  Haut Bay

Next we headed for Boulder's Penquin Beach, where a colony of penguins has established themselves. They are on the smaller side and the chicks are losing their baby feather coats. 

After lunch we headed to the Cape of Good Hope. Originally (accurately) named the Cape of Storms, it was renamed so as not to scare people off, though many would have been safer had they avoided that transit point. The Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet in this area, but it is not a fixed point because of shifting currents and climatic conditions which make it pretty dangerous. Keeping to its original name, it was raining hard when we arrived and I elected to stay dry.

This is the view from the bus.....

Drive to Cape Town and Explore: 2/27

 Our plan was to visit Table Mountain and getting there early meant less wait time, hence our 6:30 start with breakfast on the bus. There was a horrible traffic jam on the way in and our day was re-arranged to  to visit the Botanical Gardens of Kirstenbosch today, one of the seven best in the world. Table Mountain will wait for tomorrow. Plants here are typically native to South Africa.

The grounds are extenive -- it would take several trips to really do it justice. It is built on a hillside and we started at the highest level parking lot, about halfway up, so most of the walking was downhill. 

Another variety of Bird of Paradise - more yellow
and reedy leaves

Silver Tree - in the Protea family

Agapanthus or Lily of the Nile - white variety

Lily of the Nile typical in USA

Protea above and below

Snake Bridge because it winds 
around like a snake

Our other stops were related to some of the unfortunate history of South Africa. We visited the District 6 Museum. This was a mixed race area with deep internal ties among communities that was somewhat run down. The powers that be decided that it should become white only and the 66,000 non-whites living there were forcibly removed and their homes were bulldozed. This separated them into race specific locations, often far from where they worked and which split up formerly cohesive communities. Because of international pressure, it has remained mostly abandoned.

The blue blocks show where people
were moved. The white blocks are
where they came from

We moved on to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, but mostly just had lunch there. 

J.C. Smuts, an influential South
African leader

Interesting architecture on an 
office building

The memorial is the poles below

Cecil Rhodes who donated the
land for the botanical garden, among
many other things

After lunch, we had a talk with one of the guards at Robbens Island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held. His accent was quite strong and I had difficulty understanding much of what he said. He did make it clear that the prison was designed to give loved ones very limited access to the prisoners, perhaps monthly or less. 

Our hotel is quite modern looking and fairly close to things to see.

Visit Paarl Valley and Franschhoek: 2/26

We started with a visit to the Afrikaans Language Monument, developed in 1975 to honor the 50th year of Afrikaans being adopted as the official South African Language. It is influenced by European languages, African languages, and Malay. The site is quite lovely and the architecture is dramatic. It sits on a hill top and the structure itself rises above the plain and is visible for miles. Each element is symbolic, down to the materials it was made of.

The home we visited yesterday had a fabulous
view of the hills on the left

Above and below: Highveld
Cabbage Tree

Our next stop was a memorial to Nelson Mandela outside a prison where he was held his last 14 months in prison. The most impressive thing to me was the plaque of his statement. 

When Mandela was here, it was called the 
Victor Verster Maximum Security Prison

Our next stop was the village of Franschhoek a majority French settlement founded by Huguenots fleeing religious persecution for becoming Protestant in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were invited by the Dutch Protestants and contributed their knowledge of wine-making. 

 

Then we visited the Huguenot Museum with a tour guide who was unfortunately way more into his topic than we were. I am surprised he didn't adjust his presentation as more of us kept drifting away.  We finally got to wander the village, which was quite charming and had lots of lovely shops. 

We got our wires crossed on where and what time we were supposed to reconnect and lunch ended up being quite late. The service plan was a bit odd too -- two big platters of roasted veggies and one of sausage were brought to the table, and given how long they were the only things to eat, we finished them off, feeling like it was an unusually light lunch.  In reality, it was an unusually large appetizer and then the real food arrived, a South African barbeque. It was really good, but seriously too much to eat.

We got back to the hotel late, but I was finally able to connect with medical staff to help and prescribe meds for me, but one was not in stock, so I hoped to find it in Cape Town the next day. 

We skipped dinner and packed for an early departure at 6:30am