Miscellaneous Cape Town

by | Feb 1, 2011 | Cape Town, Parks/Nature Reserves, Western Cape | 22 comments

First, a few words of thanks:

Thanks to WordPress for “Freshly Pressing” me for the second time in three months. Wow. It was great to get a second chance because this time I actually understood and appreciated what was happening when my inbox started to overflow.

Thanks to everyone who read, commented on, liked, and subscribed to my blog. I’ve tried to respond to as many of you as possible but if I haven’t, rest assured that I’ve read and appreciated every comment.

Thanks to my mom for coming to visit and giving me an excuse to do fun things that create fantastic blog material.

Thanks to Joe, the man behind the blog, for improving my photography, making my photos look amazing, and teaching me so many interesting things about South Africa.

Now, back to Cape Town. Mom and I did several fun things during our trip that I wasn’t able to cover in the first two posts, so I’ve compiled a few of my favorite photos to illustrate them:

Riding the Hop On Hop Off Cape Town Sightseeing Bus. For someone who thought she disliked group tours, I certainly did a lot of them last weekend. We wanted to visit Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and the bus was the easiest way to get there. Tickets cost R120 per person and we had the option of stopping at several other locations around town. We also learned many interesting things about Cape Town by listening to those nifty red earphones.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden in the country with the biggest collection of indigenous flora. It’s a beautiful place for hiking (you can actually walk up Table Mountain from there), picnicking, or just sitting and gazing at the view. You can also have a delicious lunch at the Tea Garden.

Looking through the branches of a gigantic fig tree in the garden’s arboretum. It reminded me of Wonderboom.

A family of Egyptian geese closes in on a human family picnicking at Kirstenbosch. The guinea fowl in the foreground, who walked with a limp but still got around quite well, seemed to have adopted the goose family.

The city tour bus stopped at Camp’s Bay, a super-trendy Cape Town suburb. Mom and I spontaneously decided to hop off and have a drink. We sat at a seafood restaurant called Ocean Blue, watched the world go by, walked up and down the street, and then took the next bus back to town.

A typical Victorian house in Tamboerskloof, which is a great place to stay on a short visit to Cape Town. You go straight down the hill to get to the Waterfront and straight up the hill to get to Table Mountain. Walking around Tamboerskloof is tiring though — there are no flats.

Shrimp curry (foreground) and peri peri shrimp (background) at Beleza, a Portuguese/Italian restaurant on Kloof Nek Road in Tamboerskloof. We had one dinner and one breakfast there — both were excellent and the restaurant had an interesting alternative vibe.

Mounted police ride past Miller’s Thumb, where we had our best dinner in Cape Town (see previous post). Also in Tamboerskloof.

I’ve reached the end of my Cape Town series, as well as my mother/daughter visit series. Mom is now safely back in South Carolina (sniff) and I’m back to business as usual (or perhaps business UNusual) in Joburg.

Thanks for following along! And don’t go away because I have good stuff planned for the next few days.

One last shot from Cape Town — morning sun on a hiking path between Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. The mountain on the right is Devil’s Peak.

22 Comments

  1. Greg

    Congratualations on being Freshly Pressed for a second time. Very well deserved! Love the series on Cape Town – gives me even more to look forward to, if that’s possible.

    Reply
  2. sunshineinlondon

    Ah, what a lovely post and stunning photographs! I sigh at each photo – can’t tell you how much I miss that blue sky and sunshine, especially at this time of year.
    Kirstenbosch is so special – I’m sure you’ve heard of their summer sunset concerts? Such a treat.
    Enjoy Joburg – I look forward to following your adventures.
    Sunshine

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Yes, we did hear about the concerts and we were there on a Sunday afternoon! We were too tired to stay until sunset though. We didn’t get to spend near enough time there — I’ll definitely be back.

      Reply
  3. lisa@notesfromafrica

    Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed again! Your posts are always wonderful, but yesterday’s was special.

    See you have found the secret to getting a good picture of a guinea fowl! 🙂 Mine keep running away. Lovely photos again.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Yes, you just need to find a slightly lame guinea fowl 🙂

      Reply
  4. Francis

    Beautiful pictures as always and the food look yummy. 😀

    Reply
  5. amblerangel

    So happy for you on the Freshly Pressed! Well Deserved!

    Reply
  6. Fidel Hart

    From now on, I am not reading your blog on an empty stomach, lol. I love Porto food, especially anything with peri peri flavoring. That shrimp looks amazing.
    Once again, the photos tell a great story.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      If you like Peri Peri then you HAVE to come to SA, and take a side-trip to the beach in Mozambique. They have the best shrimp (prawns) and calamari in the world there.

      Reply
      • Fidel Hart

        Well Mozambique is on my list of places to visit.
        Have you been to Malawai yet or thought of going?

        Reply
      • 2summers

        No, I haven’t been to Malawi although I’ve heard many good things and would love to go. Not a great place for food though, from what I’ve heard. I’ve been to Tanzania, Rwanda, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique (and SA of course). All fantastic places in their own ways.

        Reply
  7. Jayne

    Fantastic pictures. You make Cape Town look truly tantalising! Thanks for discovering my blog so I could discover yours 🙂

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Thanks so much. Hope you get back here soon so you can see CT for yourself. It’s quite a contrast to JHB although I love both cities.

      Reply
  8. Rebecca

    Congratulations! On a side note, I also got Freshly Pressed twice last year and it was such a shock – but so exciting – to wake up to an overflowing inbox!

    These pics are great – I loved sitting and people-watching at Camps Bay. And although I felt likke suuuchhh a tourist, the Hop on Hop off bus is by far the easiest and cheapest way to get around Cape Town.

    Look forward to seeing you Freshly Pressed again – I know you can do it!

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Darn, I thought I was the only one who’d ever been freshly pressed twice. Just kidding!

      Thanks again for reading. I love your blog too.

      Reply
  9. neha

    I’m so glad I clicked on the link when I logged on. Am bookmarking your blog, and hope to read through.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Thanks Neha, your blog looks interesting too. I’ll check it out. I see you have a post about cricket — I’ve written a couple posts about cricket too if you’re interested. My new favorite sport!

      Reply
      • neha

        I saw a couple of your cricket posts from the recent India-SA tour; went through TONS of envy! Thanks for stopping by my blog too.

        Reply
  10. Tilly Bud

    Congratulations on your second FP! Your blog is so interesting that it’s well-deserved.

    I found the geese and guinea fowl interesting. Did you know that if a goose is hurt or ill, some of the others will stay with it until it recovers or dies? They then try to re-join their flock or hook up with another. Nice to know they don’t discriminate against other species!

    Reply
    • 2summers

      That is very interesting. I also find geese fascinating.

      Reply
  11. Derek Smith

    Next time you go to Cape Town go a little bit further than Simonstown to Kalkbay and Muizenberg – This (for me) is the most beautiful and quaint part of the CT experience. Have lunch at the Olympia Cafe, or maybe at Cape to Cuba overlooking Kalkbay Harbour. The humble little cottage where Cecil John Rhodes died is along the road – Rhodes, whose life and times was so intertwined with Southern African history is buried in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and I visited his grave there in the Matopos many years ago. His body was transported by train and then by ox-wagon high up amongst the boulders. I often wondered why he wished it to be so. Grandiose to be sure……

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Kalk Bay is Joe’s favorite place on the cape too. We’ll definitely get there next time 🙂

      Reply

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