Ever since we announced our plans to travel in Africa, people have been singing Cape Town’s praises. Nearly every person we met along the way – including South Africans from other parts of the country – effused over Cape Town, promising us that we were going to love it. We had heard so much about Cape Town, in fact, that I worried the city wasn’t going to be able to live up to its reputation.

Happily, I was wrong.

After having logged 5,192.7 kilometers across three countries, it was a bittersweet moment when we dropped off our Toyota Corolla at the Avis location in downtown Cape Town – it left like a lifetime ago when we first picked it up at the railway station in Johannesburg. To a certain extent, the car had become our one constant over the course of the past thirty days, and it was strange to suddenly be without it. We quickly adjusted, however, and returned to our roots of urban exploring on foot, which is honestly the best way to experience nearly any city.

Cape Town was the last stop on our five-week journey through South Africa, and we found it to be vibrant, diverse, accessible, and beautiful. The stunning setting alone – the combination of mountains and the Atlantic Ocean – made it an amazing place to be. Of all the places we have been thus far, Cape Town made me the most nostalgic for New York because it felt the most like home. There was safe and reliable public transportation, fun restaurants and bars, and even a yoga studio near the apartment we rented.¹

After over a month of nearly constant movement (even our trip to Stellenbosch had involved two days of traipsing about wineries), we switched into tourist-lite mode in Cape Town: we whiled away entire mornings drinking coffee on the balcony of our apartment as the fog rolled in over the mountains, didn’t push ourselves to see every possible sight, and spent time just hanging out with a friend from law school who happened to be volunteering in Cape Town. We enjoyed distinctly non-tourist activities, like drinking terrible margaritas at a bar advertising “Mexican Wednesdays,” getting a haircut, spending an evening at the movies, and even throwing a dinner party.²

Of course, we made time for some of Cape Town’s sights. The big highlights of which – like Table Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, and Boulders Bay – will be covered in future posts, so keep your eyes out for those.³ Other sights and activities that didn’t take up an entire day included:

V&A Waterfront

The V&A Waterfront is a huge complex that combines an historic working harbor with a hotel, restaurants, shops, and a massive mall. We spent an afternoon wandering around there, generally being consumers. (Purchases included an ice cream cone from McDonald’s and a new tin from Lush for my solid shampoo.)

Company’s Gardens

Our apartment was near the Company’s Gardens, which originated as the Dutch East India Company’s vegetable patch. Today, the gardens are full of interesting trees and squirrels (which, interestingly, our guidebook told us were imported from North America by Cecil Rhodes). Everywhere we looked, people were hand-feeding the squirrels, and the little critters, so emboldened, would run right up to you and stand on their hind legs, begging for treats.

Castle of Good Hope

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest existing colonial building in South Africa. Originally constructed by the Dutch in the 17th century as fortification to defend their nascent settlement in Table Bay, it has been enlarged, modified, and taken on differing roles during the intervening centuries. We climbed around the structure, poking our heads in the old jail cells and checking out the displays of pottery, antiques, and decorative arts.

Bo-Kaap Neighborhood

We strolled through the vibrantly painted houses in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood, an area that is one of Cape Town’s oldest residential neighborhoods.

Beaches

One afternoon was spent hanging around the beach in Camps Bay and then walking along the road overlooking the beaches in the affluent Clifton neighborhood, as we made our way up to watch the sunset from the Sea Point Promenade. The beaches were lovely, and the view from Camps Bay of the Twelve Apostles (the hills on the back of Table Mountain) was particularly interesting and a contrast the mountain’s sheer front which faces Cape Town’s city bowl.

Old Biscuit Mill

On a late Saturday morning, we met our friends at the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill. Once we stepped into the food area, which was bursting with artisan this and organic that, we felt as though we had been transported back to the Brooklyn Flea.⁴ There were so many inventive, delicious-looking things on offer that it was hard to decide what to choose. We shared a mushroom kebab (which featured a variety of mushrooms!), I had a fancy chicken sandwich with pesto and other toppings and Marc had an ostrich wrap. After lunch, we wandered around the shops.

Labia Theater

One rainy night we availed ourselves of the dinner-and-a-movie deal at the Labia Theater. The deal involved different restaurants on different days of the week. The night we went to the movies, the featured restaurant was Kauai, a vaguely-Hawaiian/Californian themed chain. For 90 rand, we got two sandwiches and two movie tickets. If purchased alone, each movie ticket would be 40 rand, so it was a great deal. The sandwiches turned out to be surprisingly delicious. We saw Grand Budapest Hotel (which was awesome, if you haven’t seen it, go do that now). The theater also sells beverages, so we started with a pre-show drink.

Where We Stayed:
After having not stayed in one place for more than three nights since we left Mozambique, we were looking forward to settling down for a while. We had enjoyed our week-long apartment rental in Vilankulo so much that we turned again to airbnb. We ended up selecting a one bedroom apartment in downtown Cape Town with an amazing balcony overlooking Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. The location was perfect, as it was a short walk from many of the city’s main attractions, restaurants, and bars.

Where We Ate:
NB: Since we had rented an apartment, we often made lunches and dinners.
☆ Masala Dosa. We enjoyed a dosa and a roti wrap at a sidewalk table at this Long Street restaurant.
☆ South China Dim Sum Bar. We were delighted to find a dim sum place on Long Street. Highlights included the Vietnamese coffee and (obviously) pork buns.
☆ Cafe Paradiso. A nice restaurant in a pretty setting on Kloof Street. The pasta was very good.
☆ The Codfather. This Camps Bay restaurant has fish cooked-to-order, but we opted for the somewhat overpriced conveyor belt sushi. Lovely view.
☆ Rafikis. The aforementioned bar advertising “Mexican Wednesdays.” Fun in concept, but there’s a fifty-fifty chance that margarita was virgin.
☆ Planet Bar. After a long day of walking around, we sat here (the bar inside the Mount Nelson Hotel) with friends and had a drink (Amarula coffee!) before dinner.
☆ Saigon. We ate at this alleged Vietnamese restaurant (actually a pan-Asian place) with friends. Highlights of the meal included the waiter telling Marc that the dish he had ordered was “very Asian” and asking if he was okay with the fact that fish sauce was one of the ingredients.
☆ Twankey Bar. The night before we left Cape Town, we met friends at this bar in the Taj Hotel, near our apartment. While I had a boring old glass of wine, Marc enjoyed a beer named – I kid you not – Bone Crusher.

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¹ If you’re looking for tips on how to find a yoga studio abroad, check out my post on the subject over on Global Zen.
² Can it really be called a dinner party if you have two friends over for wine, soup, and roasted vegetables? If they bring the cheese and dessert (malva pudding), I think it can!
³ We’re done with our 23-day camping safari across Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia! From here on out, we hope to post more frequently – but, of course, TIA (This Is Africa), and it all depends on the availability of internet. Thanks for bearing with us!
⁴ The Old Biscuit Mill is located in the Woodstock area of Cape Town, hipstery parts of which felt like they could have easily been in Williamsburg.