We just returned from a South African adventure that was over a year in the making. On a trip to Machu Pichu, we met a couple who raved about a recent trip there. While the long flight had always been a discouragement, we discovered tickets for business class on Turkish Air that were a third of the price of our usual US carrier. We talked to some friends who had flown it and they actually thought the comfort and service better.
A direct flight from DFW to Istanbul preceded a direct flight to Cape Town, making it convenient, even if very long. We used Audley to plan the trip with us and make reservations. They had someone meet us as we got off the plane and walk us through immigration, saving us what we later learned was a two hour wait.
During our days in Cape Town, we stayed at the Victoria and Alfred Hotel right on the waterfront in a vibrant area of shops, restaurants and the Two Oceans Aquarium. The Indian and Atlantic Oceans converge at Cape Town. I wondered why the hotel name did not seem right and learned Queen Victoria laid the cornerstone of the harbor with her second son, Prince Alfred, rather than her husband, Prince Albert. The hotel was named for those who visited.
The afternoon was a tour of the city. The first stop was Bo-Kaap, the first neighborhood settled by the Dutch spice traders who made Cape Town a replenishment stop for their ships to stave off scurvy in the 1600s. The Dutch brought in Asian slaves from Malaysia and Indonesia to build the city. Blacks were then brought in to farm the lands producing the fresh fruit and vegetables the ships needed. We discovered colorful houses in the Dutch Cape style with wall murals and art made from such things as coffee pod caps. We then visited District Six, which the Apartheid government emptied out starting in the 1970s. We saw pictures and had discussions about the vibrant community that existed there, but exclusively colored (meaning mixed races) and blacks. The displacement resulted in many shanty towns appearing out near the airport. Today, much of the land remains vacant as the government has not paid for the homes they took and destroyed. Our driver/guide was self-described as colored and his feelings about his treatment under that government were clearly evident. We ended this tour with a visit to the first fort built in Cape Town and learned of the many wars fought here between the Dutch and English and later the English and the Germans during World War I.
We had dinner at the Kloof Street House, a short Uber ride away from the hotel. The fish special that night was excellent, along with fresh vegetables and a bottle of crisp sparkling wine from the Richmond district, just outside Cape Town.
The next day we had an excellent guide who used to be a marketing executive for a tobacco company. He had lived around the world, including in Russia. He was very knowledgeable, driving us down the peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope where we got up close and personal with baboons, ostriches, penguins, and seals. We were unable to visit a spectacular coastal drive because of fallen rocks closing the road, so we went to Constantia, where we visited a winery. The wines were nice, but not memorable. Our driver talked about his travels and his family. His son is a care giver for a wealthy family whose wife has early onset dementia. In the age of AI, he saw this as a safe occupation for someone who only graduated high school.
That night we took an Uber to La Colombe (The Dove), a restaurant with a spectacular view and a Michelin quality experience. It was by far the most expensive meal we ate, but the seven courses were all prepared visually, olfactorily, and taste wise among the best we have ever experienced. They also paired the meal with small batch locally produced wines, that pushed the traditional boundaries. The pairing included three whites, three reds and a rose. One of the whites was highly unusual. It had eleven grape varieties from thirteen vineyards and was a symphony in your mouth.
On our last full day in Cape Town, we hired a private driver to take us to the places we had not yet visited. That included a visit to Signal Hill, that overlooks the city, (Table Mountain is much higher but was closed the entire time we were there because of high winds), the coastal road that was closed the day before, and a visit to Cheeta Sanctuary.
This was an excellent start for our tour of a country we knew little about.
