May 22nd, 2025
We got an early start today since it’s our last day in Cape Town and a lot we want to do. The weather was supposed to be sunshine but there was a lot of fog left over from the rain and the cool weather. The hotel has a great breakfast spread so we had a nice breakfast and figured we would skip lunch. We checked out of the hotel and checked our bags at the desk and headed off for a walk from the hotel to the closest Hop-on Hop-off stop. We wanted to catch the first circuit and get to the Table Mountain cable car before the crowds. The bus picked us up at 8:40 and we got off at theTable Mountain stop.
It was still cloudy but we could see blue skies. The cable car was large and circular so everyone stood. They allow 65 people per cable car and what was genius about the cable car was that the floor rotated. So you stood and very slowly the floor moved you around the car and there are 2 open windows, one on each side, so you can get pictures both above and below. No juggling for positions or trying to get a photo. It was a little disconcerting not being able to hold onto the side rails but it was not a fast rotation.
The view going up and you can see the square cable car building at the top and then the view down below.
We walked around for over an hour and it was cool with the breeze. The fog stayed on 1 end of the mountain so we never did get a clear view but towards the water the fog would come and go.
You can see the guy learning how to abseil to the lower right. No way in hell would I do that.
We also found some wildlife up top.
The first picture is a mammal and it is called a Dassie or Rock Hydrax or rock rabbit. They were all over the sides of the cliffs and amazingly agile. People also fed them, which you are not supposed to do, and they can bite.
The second picture is an orange breasted sunbird and the last picture is a red winged starling.
You can walk down the mountain but we opted for the cable car since we had lots planned for the day.
Next stop was back to Camp’s Bay which is one of the fancy beach areas along the coast. The story goes that 100 years ago no on wanted to live so far from the city so the government was giving land away to encourage people to live there. You got some land and the government charged you a small rent and paid for utilities and after 10 years that property was yours.
Some really well done sand art on the beach.
No one swims in Camps’s Bay. The water is actually colder in the summer than in the winter due to the winds blowing the warm water on top out to sea, then cooler water under rises. It is also very rough and lots of rocks and tons of kelp. Never mind the sea creatures that bother you.
You can see some of the waves hitting the rocks. We stopped at Starbucks and got some caffeine and sat for a little bit enjoying the ocean. Then we got back on the bus and got off a few stops later where they had a large promenade you could walk along the beach.
One of the sea side towns, Sea Point, built this huge public swimming complex that is free to the public and has a diving pool, an olympic size lap pool and 2 smaller pools. All of the pools are sea water but they are heated. The sea gulls seemed to enjoy the pools also.
Since the weather was so nice there was lots of parasailing going on. It is tandem parasailing and you strap in for the ride. They start on Signal Hill and go over the beach and then out into the water and then land on the greenway by the water. We must have watched 50 of them land and then they pack up the chute and drive back up to the hill to take more people down. The whole ride lasts 20 minutes.
The tandem parasailers landing and a cool rhino art installation.
We walked for a bit and enjoyed the breeze and the beach and then we got back on the bus. The last place I wanted to go was an area called Bo-Kaap that is known for their colorful houses. The story goes that this was an old slave area and all the houses had to be white and when slavery ended they wanted to celebrate their freedom and painted the houses bright colors. The bus drops you off about 3 blocks away from the colorful houses. As we started walking a security guard came up to us as patrolling the street. In Cape Town they have tons of security, both private and government. No matter where you go you see tons of security people and all are very friendly and helpful. This gentleman asked us where we were going and we explained we wanted to get pictures. He seemed to think this was not the best idea but he told Kathy to take off her gold chain and had me hide my silver chain under my shirt. Then he told me top carry my back pack in the front and I had the big camera which he wanted me to hold in front of me with both hands. After giving us a lecture on not accepting help from anyone but marked security and to not ask for any assistance at an ATM and definitely not to give our PN numbers to anyone. After all of this we were basically ready to say “forget it” and head back to the bus stop and forget the houses and he decided he would accompany us. So off we went with our personal escort. About a block away from where we wanted to go he stopped and said his territory ended at the corner so we told him we would be careful and we walked a block to get some pictures.
After we took the pictures we carefully hurried back to the bus stop and when we were a block away another security guard stopped us and asked us where we were going and we told him we were almost there and he said there are 2 men following you so please hurry back and I will detain the 2 men. We have no idea if this is true or not but we could not wait to get back on the bus and we were so relieved to see a bus waiting there when we turned the corner. We can now check that off our list.
We did another loop around so we could get back to the original place, close to our hotel, to walk back and get our bags and get a taxi to the new hotel.
The coast highway with the 12 Apostles in the back ground. No one knows why they re called the 12 Apostles since there are actually 17. As you can see as the day wore on it got clearer.
We checked in to the new hotel at 5:30. to explain why we switched hotels it is because originally we were only supposed to be here 1 night post cruise and then off on safari so we had booked the Victoria & Albert hotel but when plans changed and we came in 2 nights early we switched hotels to save a few dollars.
The new hotel is right on the waterfront and there was a nice chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us.
Our room and we opened the windows, drank the champagne and enjoyed the breeze and the view of table mountain as the sun set.
We decided to head to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner and walked to Nobu Cape Town. It is located in a luxury hotel brand that we have never heard of called “The One and Only”. We had a great dinner with some of our favorites including yellow tail sashimi with jalapeño and ponzu shrimp and Wagyu beef tacos.
We needed up with 3 orders of the yellow tail and 3 orders of the wagyu beef.
We had a great meal and there was a couple sitting next to us that we started talking to and they are from Santa Barbara, California and they were a lot of fun so after dinner we went to the bar and shared a bottle of wine with them. We exchanged contact info because you just never know. They are headed to Victoria Falls on Sunday so we may run into them again.
Made it back to the hotel by midnight and quick showers and to bed so we could get up at 6am for breakfast and our ride was picking us up at 7:15 for transport to the Cape Town.
Next stop Victoria Falls.