From last week in Cape Town:
Although we are more than halfway through with the semester, we had our “midterm break” last week in Cape Town. We have only had a few full days off up until this point because this course doesn’t follow the typical schedule of having no class on weekends, so this was our first time with a lot of freedom. We stayed as a group in a hostel (called a “backpacker” here) near Long Street which is a street with lots of restaurants and shops and is a pretty touristy area.
I was really impressed by the city itself. It is sandwiched between mountains and the ocean, so it is in a beautiful location. I definitely didn’t get to explore all of it, but the areas that I did see were clean and there were a lot of beautiful old buildings. Compared to cities in the US, it doesn’t seem as developed, at least in terms of skyscrapers and large buildings, although it’s definitely still growing (for example, I drove past the new stadium built for the World Cup). From where we were staying there were a lot of places within walking distance although we had to take taxis often to get to further locations. Although our last two days in the city were scheduled for lectures and class activities, we were free to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the time. So here are the highlights of my time in Cape Town:
· Climbed Table Mountain: This is one of the major landmarks of Cape Town and is always listed as a must-do thing for visitors to the city. I went with a group of friends and our original plan was to walk from our hostel to the mountain itself, hike up the mountain, walk around the top of the mountain and have lunch, take the cable car down the mountain and then walk back to the hostel. Our day didn’t end up going according to plan though. After we had walked uphill for about 45 minutes to actually reach the base of the mountain we learned that the cable car wasn’t running that day due to high winds. We decided to climb the mountain anyways and hike back down too. The climb itself was kind of challenging and involved climbing up natural rock steps for almost two hours. Once we got about halfway up, the wind started to pick up, which made hiking a little harder. When we finally reached the top, we experienced the full force of the wind. We ate our lunch huddled next to a wall trying to get out of the wind because all of the buildings and shops at the top of the mountain were closed. It was the coldest I have been in South Africa and being at the top of the mountain wasn’t the most enjoyable experience. It also was a very tiring day of walking because once we reached the top we still had to hike back down, plus walk back to our hostel. Overall it was a really good workout and I enjoyed most of the experience.
· Swam with seals: I went on a snorkeling trip out of a place called Haut Bay in order to swim with Cape Fur Seals. We went out to an area called Seal Islands which is a colony of about 3000 seals. The water was pretty cold, but we were able to wear wetsuits while swimming. The seals have no fear of humans and in fact were very curious. The baby seals in particular would swim right up to us. It also should be noted that these seals are the favorite prey of all the sharks that live around here. Luckily we didn’t see any while swimming though.
· Toured several vineyards: The area around Cape Town in South Africa is known for its amazing wine, so I went with a group on a biking wine tour. We went on a prearranged tour with several other people. We had a very multi-national group – there were people from Australia, Spain, Germany, Norway, England and Israel. Our tour guide drove us to a town about an hour away; then we got on bikes and rode to the first vineyard. The bike ride was beautiful and took us through the countryside on dirt roads. Unfortunately we were only able to ride to the first two vineyards because the final two were too far to reach by bike. At each of the four vineyards we had a chance to sit down and sample some of their wines (anywhere between 4 and 9 samples). I don’t really know much about wine, but after this tour I’m starting to learn the difference between all of the different kinds. I also don’t really know how to classify a “good” wine, but a lot of the wines we tried won some sort of awards, so I guess some people would consider them to be good.
· Saw a concert in the botanical gardens: These gardens are some sort of heritage site, I think, so the place was beautiful. We saw some South African band which I had never heard of, but it was a good way to spend the night.
· Ate lots and lots of good food : This was the first time that we really had the freedom to choose our meals, because they have been cooked for us during the semester. We were given food money that we could budget however we wanted. The restaurants in Cape Town are pretty amazing. My favorite was a place called Café Royale which has some of the best burgers/milkshakes I have ever had. I also got to try sushi and Ethiopian food (thanks to having friends who are more worldly in their food choices) both of which were interesting, although I’d have to say that I liked the Ethiopian a lot more.
· Visited Cape Point/Penguins: As a class we went to see Cape Point, which is often confused with the Cape of Good Hope which is located right next to it. Cape Point is the southernmost point of Cape Town. On the same day we also visited the beach to go surfing and to a colony of penguins that live nearby. They lived right next to a parking lot by the ocean, so their environment didn’t look too natural, but it was still interesting to see them.
· Tried to visit Robbin Island (where Mandela was imprisoned): Unfortunately the wind was too strong and the seas were too rough, so our ferry was cancelled. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back to Cape Town at some point, because it’s supposed to be a really interesting tour.
So overall Cape Town was a lot of fun and I would recommend that anyone visit if they are ever in South Africa.
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