South Africa Adventure #4, Cape Town, SA

We arrived by South African Airlines to Cape Town on Saturday October 24 and took our BMW upgrade to the Blackheath Lodge in the Sea Point district of Cape Town on the Atlantic seaboard. The lodge served as our base of operations for exploring the greater Cape Town area for the next three days. Blackheath is another boutique hotel, just 19 rooms, that served glorious breakfasts to get us going for the day. Sunday afternoon we drove the windy coast road east to Hout Bay and its indoor market. There was lots of food and music, and I was particularly taken by a local band, Oceans Rift, jazzy with a banjo, if you can believe that!

Monday was a tourist day of mixed success. First on our list was Table Mt., which rises 3500' and for can be seen anywhere in Cape Town. When we drove to the base, we encountered a queue of nearly 1 1/2 hours for the gondola to the top. The wait was worth it, or so we thought. The views were terrific, and the day was sunny and clear with seemingly limitless visibility, but with strong, gusty winds that could blow you over the wall! When we heard thar they may be closing the gondola because of the winds, we bee lined to a short queue for the ride down, and not long after reaching the bottom we heard the horn announcing that the mountain would be closing. We had booked an afternoon tour of Robben Is, but the delays at Table Mt. prevented us from making it. Instead, we went for a late lunch at The Waterfront, filled with countless restaurants, high end hotels and many boats. As those who know me would understand, I spent a lot of time in the Blackheath phone with the South African government trying to convince them to credit us or reimburse us for the missed tour, but to no avail. So, I rebooked for the Wednesday and paid the fare a second time. For dinner, we met up with a couple we met on safari, Lee & Lilly Gunn. Lee is a retired rear admiral, & we never saw Lily without a hat! Our meal at the Kloof House, was not just great for the fine food and company but because the restaurant clearly had served as a brothel in years past.

Tuesday was the quintessential tour of South African wineries. We hired a driver for obvious reasons and visited four, our favorite being the most elegant venue, Delaire Graff Estate, where we enjoyed an excellent lunch overlooking spectacular views of the countryside. And what a day - sunny, dry & hot, near 100 degrees F. The next day we finally made to Robben Is., where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years of incarceration as a political dissident. Our guide for the bus portion was hilarious and articulated the curious history of the island. Things can move slowly in Africa, and one of his many lines was, "in Switzerland they have watches, in Africa we have time." Our 2nd guide had been a political prisoner there from '86 to '91, and he took us through the prison, where we saw Mandela's cell. Depressing, but a good lesson in seeking reconciliation rather than revenge for the mistreatment toward so many over so many years. lunch were "rugby burgers," presumably celebrating the 2015 World Cup (where South Africa subsequently took 3rd) at the Waterfront, from where we drove to Camps Bay to check into our next stop, South Beach Hotel.