Great South African Road Trip: Cape Town

Day 1 was just arriving into Cape Town. The weather was terrible and I got soaked just loading the luggage into the rental car. Aside from the slums and driving on the other side of the road, South Africa seems a lot like the US so far. The slums take a little getting used to (and there's no avoiding them, they are right next to the airport), but it seems a little surreal whizzing past them a few feet away on the highway. The hotel was in the waterfront area. It is a really pleasant, lively area of stores, hotels and restaurants around the old harbor that is now mostly disued. It makes for a nice place to walk around. Stopped by the aquarium also; it was decent, but had no conveyor belt to move you around like Singapore. It did have several no fishing signs posted about, so clearly this must have been a problem at some point. Day 2 was a busy day of siteseeing including the castle

From Cape Town

and center of the city.

From Cape Town

Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, and the city was pretty much dead. The nice gardens in the center of the city containing all the government buildings and several museums was very nice, particularly the national gallery.

From Cape Town

After that, I went to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was really nicely surprised by it. The gardens were massive, emaculately maintained, and had miles of lawns, paths, and trails to explore. I spent a few hours just wandering around and admiring the place. It would be a great place to go for a picnic. These were probably the best gardens I have been to, and possibly my favorite thing in Cape Town.

From Cape Town

Last stop for day two was the top of Signal Hill for a view of the city. The sun finally came out for a little while for this.

From Cape Town

The next day was spent almost exclusively doing Robbeneiland and Table Mountain.

Robbeneiland is a bit like Alcatraz.

From Cape Town

It is the prison island where Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners were held. After you take the boat out to the island, you get a tour around to the different parts of the island by a former prisoner, and then another former prisoner takes you through the prison itself and explains what life was like. The prison itself was not very exciting to see (they never are), but the stories from the guides were very entertaining and absolutely enlightening. It was well worth going to see, and also one of my favorite stops in Cape Town.

From Cape Town

After that, it was off to Table Mountain to take the cable car up to the top (didn't have enough time to hike it). Fortunately, there was a break in the clouds while I was there and so I could walk and take pictures in the sunshine.

From Cape Town

The cable car rotates as it goes along, which is cool, but I can see that being really bad for people who get motion sick. Thee view from the top was, of course, very nice. The only bad thing about it is the location. There isn't really decent parking at the cable car station, everyone just parks along the side of road, which makes for a lot of congestion. Instead of having the station halfway up the mountain, they should have made it longer and start from the edge of town.

Next up is the Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope itself.