JMA's World Travels

After a fantastic time in Durban the three of us flew down to Cape Town on the Friday for a week where we would show David some more of the beauty of South Africa.

We stayed in a Timeshare resort in Sea Point called The Royal Atlantic. It was perfect in both comfort and position and had the pleasure of a very refreshing swimming pool. It was made even more refreshing by an interesting concept in South African swimming pools; rather than chlorinating the water they create a saline solution which has a slight feel and taste of salt. When you finish swimming you feel like you have had a swim but don't need a shower as you don't have the feel and smell of chlorine. On a number of occasions we had a quick dip rather than a shower after coming home from an outing and before getting ready to go out for the evening.

We checked in and then went for a walk along the Sea Point Promenade to admire the fantastic ocean and mountain views. We returned along the Main Road where all the shops are and found a much-needed cold drink as it was really sunny and hot, there were no complaints from any of us about this though! We ended the day by driving down to Camps Bay where we had a bit of a walk along the front to show David and then chose the Camps Bay Caf� as our supper-place. What a good choice it was, excellent beer and DEEELICIOUS steaks!!!

We had decided that on the first sunny morning we would head for Table Mountain and go up to the top in the cable car. We could not have asked for a better day than the morning after we arrived, perfect blue skies, not a breath of wind and not too much haziness on the horizon. The ride up the mountain in the cable car is the first amazing experience, the floor of the car turns around a full revolution giving everyone a 360 degrees view of the ride up.

We walked around the mountaintop stopping often to enjoy the magnificent views of Cape Town, the beaches, the oceans and the surrounding areas. As I said to both David and Annie, it does not matter how many times I go up the mountain, I am always amazed at the views and the beauty and always take a whole bunch of photos from the top! We ended our visit with a sandwich and cold drink at the mountaintop caf� before riding back down in the cable car.

We later met our friends Malcolm and Debbie and their daughter Robyn for a drink at Greenmarket Square. It is an area that used to be a craft and curio market but is now just about only an African curio market. It was great to see them as it had been two years since we last saw them. Although the city centre is pretty much ignored and avoided by the locals we walked around a bit afterwards as there are some stunning old buildings to admire.

We ended a perfect day by sitting down on the Sea Point Boardwalk watching the sun set over the ocean while drinking a very cold bottle of South African white wine.

David has a friend, Taahier, who lives in Cape Town so the two of them went off on their own at times so that Taahier could show David some of the other beautiful Cape Town sites and beaches such as Clifton and Camps Bay.

While David and Taahier were "posing" on the trendy beaches, Annie and I took a trip down memory lane by driving out to Muizenberg. Out there we drove around the Marina da Gama where I used to live and then went for a walk on Muizenberg beach, something we have both done as kids. To complete the "trip" we bought granadilla ice-lollies and sat on the beachfront eating them.

Afterwards we met some other Cape Town friends, Angie, her son Robin, her friend Ron, and later David and Taahier at the beautiful Kirstenbosch Gardens. They are situated at the bottom of Table Mountain and have a variety of gardens including an interesting sculpture garden. We strolled around the gardens for a while before "taking tea and scones" at the garden caf�.

With Cape Town having so much to offer we had to plan carefully to fit in everything we wanted to see and do. On the next day, another perfectly blue-sky day we headed off to Hout Bay on the "other side" of Table Mountain. Annie had read about a boat trip to the nearby Seal Island so that was to be our first stop in Hout Bay Harbour. With perfect seas and skies and the seals performing for us, we had a great trip. Even though the inside of the boat had a glass-bottom viewing area, we decided that the weather was too good to go inside to see what was below us. And anyway, the seals were all jumping out of the water to say "hello" to us.

Back in Hout Bay after the boat ride David and Taahier headed off for a drive to Cape Point and Annie and I wandered around the harbour for a while. A bit later we met up with Michelle, Gareth and their two kids for lunch at The Mariners Grill. Picture the scene, sitting at a table on a balcony overlooking the sandy beach, beautiful blue ocean and mountain views. Add to that being with good friends who we have not seen for years and a fantastic fish meal. You just can't beat it!!

After lunch we had more pilgrimages to carry out. First of all to Snoekies, a well-known Cape Town haunt that sells THE best smoked snoek (white saltwater fish) in the world!! We bought a piece to take back to Durban to share with my parents as they feel the same way about it as we do, that it is absolutely DELICIOUS!! And the other was to drive down to Llandudno beach on the way back to Sea Point. We walked along the beach and FROZE our feet to the point of pain in the freezing Atlantic Ocean every time a wave brought the water up the beach!

Having been to a lot of the most important places in Cape Town, all that remained was to show David the Cape Town Waterfront and do a bit of shopping. The Waterfront is a development of shops, restaurants, shops, hotels and, whet else but shops. Between all of us we went there a few times for shopping, meals and a combination of both. It is a really impressive development with the added feature of being right on the water's edge.

Annie and I ended another of the days by going to Malcolm and Debbie's home in a suburb called Rondebosch. They have a delightful home with fantastic views of Table Mountain. Debbie made us a delicious traditional Cape Malay meal called Babotie, absolutely "scrummy"!!

One of the other non-touristy but exceptionally interesting events for Annie and I was the meeting of Professor Ramesar, the Director of the Human Genetics Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. We were lucky enough to spend just over an hour with him hearing about research and progress into this form of research especially in relation to Retinitis Pigmentosa, the eye disease I have (You can visit http://www.brps.demon.co.uk if you would like to know more about RP). He also showed us around the laboratories and introduced us to some of his staff. They are really doing the most amazing work and we really appreciated the time he gave us.

After a most incredible and enjoyable week in Cape Town it was time to leave again, David home to London and Annie and I back to Durban for another week. We decided that the right way to end would be a scenic drive to Camps Bay for a walk and a late breakfast. On my sister Susan's recommendation we stopped in at the Camps Bay Chemist to say hello to the pharmacist. At 97 he is the worlds oldest and longest serving pharmacist, number 57 on a role of many thousands!! We then found an outdoor caf� across the road from the beach and, even though the weather was starting to turn a bit otherwise, it was just a perfect way to say farewell to Cape Town!


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