Today I am taking you around one of my favourite cities i.e. Cape Town, South Africa. However, by the time I arrived, I only had a couple of days to spare and the weather was less than ideal, so I didn’t get to see very much. I knew I had to return to do the city justice and also film a proper Cape Town travel guide for you guys. This time around, I gave myself a full week to spare. My days were packed with sightseeing, and with visits to restaurants, chocolate shops, wineries and gin distilleries, so without further delay, let us show you 30 things do in Cape Town, South Africa.
Let’s start with the attraction that should be at the very top of your itinerary.
Riding the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway: Any Capetonian will tell you to do this at the first sign of clear weather. When the mountain is shrouded in clouds, also known as the table cloth effect, or experiencing high winds, the cable car shuts down. This can happen from one moment to the next,so you don’t want to leave this attraction to your final day, just in case! Table Mountain forms part of Table Mountain National Park and it has been voted one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Whether you choose to ride the cable car or hike to the top, it’s worth a visit for the views you get of Cape Town and Robben Island. Speaking from personal experience, do not underestimate how cold and windy it can get a top Table Mountain, even on the sunniest of days. There’s a shop that sells jackets and fleeces as soon as you get off the cable car, and for good reason, so save yourself the cash and bundle up! So last night I was researching some rooftopbars here in Cape Town and I found one called Cloud 9. It is on top of a boutique hotel and the views are seriously amazing. It is like 360 degree views and you've got Table Mountain right there. Well, I think officially i am having the most scenic pizza of our lives. Oh, yes. Check that out. Here I go. So I got Siciliana. So let's see. Apparently this has anchovies, black olives. Yeah. Tomato. It looks good. .And something I've got to mention is I've had pizza in South Africa a few times on this trip. So good. It is so good. They make amazing pizzas here. So this morning I am going scootering around Table Mountain. I've never ridden one of these scooters before so it should be a fun adventure. So this is what Table Mountain looks like at the moment. So I am going to go scootering on Signal Hill instead. Feeling famished from that ride, I made my way to Honest Chocolate on Wale Street. They’re a small artisanal chocolate company that not only makes delicious chocolate using organically produced ingredients, but theyalso brew a nice cup of coffee to go along with their sweet treats.
While you’re down by the V&A Waterfront,you can also do a harbour cruise. I did a short 30-minute tour with City Sightseeing. You can buy tickets on the spot for 40 rand,which was around $3 USD at the time. If this isn’t your first time to Cape Town,you’ll notice that there’s a new landmark on the waterfront, and that’s the Silo Hotel. This was considered a bit of a concrete eyesore for many years, but the historic grain silo now houses a luxury hotel, a bar, a restaurant,and the new Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, which is set to open in September 2017. I ate at the Granary Cafe and the food wasdelicious!
For a big splash of colour, you need to make your way to Bo Kaap. Also known as the Malay Quarter, this CapeTown neighbourhood sits on the slopes of Signal Hill and is known for it’s bright painted houses that come in every shade under the rainbow. It’s a fun place to wander around, and you’re bound to come across a few Instagram shoots going on. While you’re in Bo Kaap, you can’t miss the chance to sample some Cape Malay food. This type of cuisine combines Malaysian, Indonesian,and African flavours. So all the food is here and it smells and it looks amazing. But I was going to be trying something new. I was having something called bobotie. At least I think that is how you say it and I'm going to read you the description because this sounds tantalizing. A sweet sour flavored lean beef mince, stir-fried with fresh herbs, spices topped with a milked egg glaze served with sweet yellow rice. That was really amazing I tasted ever.
So this morning I am doing the City Sightseeing Tour. It is a hop on, hop off and I think they have like 3 different loops so I was just going to ride the bus and get off whereever we think a place looks interesting. Yeah, it is going to let us to explore a lot more of the outskirts of the city as opposed to just the downtown area so I was really looking forward to that. One of the best things we did in Cape Town was make use of the City Sightseeing bus. This allowed me to explore different parts of the city, including a few places that would have been hard to reach without a car. The whole journey is narrated via audio headsets,plus it was a great way to get an overview of Cape Town. So new up I was at Camps Bay beach and I don'tthink I've ever been so bundled up for the beach before. The views are incredible but the water is ice cold so I don't think I am going to be going in. One of the stops on the bus tour was Camps Bay Beach. It was a bit early in the day, so I had the whole place to myself, but it’s easy to see why this is one of the most desirable neighbourhoods in Cape Town. The mountain backdrop is breathtaking!
Another place I visited during the hop-on-hop-off tour was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Set against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain,this is yet again another beautiful spot worth visiting. If you do make it all the way out here, don’tmiss the tree canopy walkway, named Boomslang, meaning tree snake. So today I am visiting The Castle Of GoodHope but unfortunately I've chosen a day when there is some kind of event happening here. So there is going to be no firing of the canon and I can't go into the museum. This place is a maze of yellow. It is so bright and cheerful and I was just wandering around the Governor's Quarters. He had a fancy home. The Castle of Good Hope was built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, and it is the oldest colonial building inSouth Africa. The fort was built as tensions rose between Britain and the Netherlands and rumours of war began to swirl. Today, the building houses the Castle Military Museum. Now let’s dive into museums. First up, I visited the District 6 Museum. District 6 was once a mixed community of freedslaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants. It was a vibrant community, however, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the process of removals had begun. In total, more than 60 000 people were forcibly removed to the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers. This museum is a memorial that shares individual stories of former residents.
I also visited the Slave Lodge, which as the name suggests, was a building used as a lodge for slaves of the Dutch East India Company. Like the District 6 Museum, this is a must-visi tto better understand South Africa’s history. And if art is your thing, there’s the South African National Gallery which is located in the Company’s Garden. The gallery houses works by South African,African, British, French, Dutch and Flemish artists. So this afternoon I was taking a little wander through The Company's Garden and I lucked out with an AirBNB that is directly across the park. So it is pretty cool. You have a few different museums and galleries within the park itself. And while you’re at the The Company's Garden,I also recommend grabbing a bite at their restaurant. I went there for breakfast and had a bit of a feast. Well you're looking pretty happy over there. With coffee and food in front of your face. Another cappuccino and look at the size of this. This is the full English or the complete breakfast or whatever you want to call it here. Well, give me the tour then. This thing is massive. Like this plate. Look at this. It is more like a platter.
The Cape Peninsula is an easy day trip fromCape Town. You could do a bus tour, but why would you want to sit in a bus all day when you could be riding a sidecar? This was one of the funnest tours I’ve done in a while and it was a blast thanks to my guide who had a great sense of humour. I rode all the way down to the Cape of GoodHope, which is the south westernmost point on the African continent. I also climbed to the top of the lighthouse for views of what looks like the ends of the Earth. Next up I have made it to Boulders Beach where the main attraction is penguins, penguins and more penguins. There is a colony of penguins here and I am going to go check them out. For a little bit of shopping, I hit up GreenmarketSquare, where there is no shortage of choice when it comes to souvenirs. I saw everything from beaded jewelry and wire art, to bright dashikis and carved wooden sculptures. Now if you had to choose one thing to take back home what would it be? Well, that is a tough decision because a lot of really cool art work and like tapestry and all of these other things are just eye catchy.
Just a short walk from there, I found Mariam’sKitchen. Here you can order the famed Gatsby, a popular South African sandwich, which is a behemoth of a meal. Alright. So good For a look at Cape Town through a differentlens, you can also do a street art tour with Juma, who is a guide and local street artist. He runs a few different tours through Woodstock and the township of Khayelitsha, where you can see murals done by national and international artists.
So this is the local grape of South Africa. I hope you enjoyed following along and that this guide gave you a few ideas of things to see, do and eat in Cape Town. As always, if you have any other suggestions feel free to share those in the comments below. In the meantime, start planning to visit cape town.
