Cape Town

 

Some time ago a friend of mine told me that her Granny felt that Cape Town was the most beautiful place in the world. If Jo’burg is night, Cape Town is a technicolor sunny day. There is so much to admire about the city – it buzzes with eclectic restaurants, hotels, and shops and has a natural beauty. There are mountains, beaches, valleys, vineyards, lakes, and beautiful flowers and foliage. You can find the famous Table Mountain and Robben Island where Mandela was held captive for 18 of the 27 years that he was imprisoned…

 

So we arrived on Friday night on one of the local airlines called Nationwide. It was pitch black and damp outside. Soon thereafter we decided to go to Avis to rent a car for the weekend. An automatic car at that – which happens to be somewhat of an anomaly unless you are driving a luxury car like a Mercedes or BMW. I suppose that the affluent can only be bothered with shifting gears if they are driving their Lamborghini’s or Porshes. Anyhow, after 25 minutes they found 1 automatic car on a lot of 50-60 cars and we soon were off driving on the left side of the road. This was the second time coming to Cape Town for both of us, so we planned more of a leisurely weekend.

 

 

That night we met up with my friends Cliff and Refiloe and one of Refiloe’s co-workers and went to a particularly posh restaurant called the Showroom. Cliff mentioned that there would be ‘eye-candy’ for all of us to enjoy but would not elaborate. We arrived at a buzzing restaurant with a clean, white modern décor and small tables surrounded with trendy clear plastic chairs. The waiter impressed me right away when he asked if there were any vegetarians at the table : ) He gave me some personal recommendations and then took our orders. And what was the eyecandy? A showroom of luxury cars that could be viewed through a large glass window from the restaurant. We were so close yet sooo far away! So, several bottles of wine were ordered, vegetable bobotie, roasted duck with peking sauce as well as ecelectic deserts such as lemon suffle with a dark chocolate sauce on the side and a dash of cayenne pepper, and a $3,000,000 Rand red Lamborghini (just kidding, but note that this was actually on the dinner menu).

The next day Sahle, Cliff and I went on a wine tasting tour in a nearby areas called Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Simonsberg. It was a nice leisurely drive and we managed to make it to 5 vineyards where we have a taste of up to 15 different wines in total. I am learning to detect different scents and flavors. Some remind you of the woods, some are very floral and others are fruity or quite savory. Some slide down your throat while others coat your tongue and change flavor if you suck in a bit of air. Very curious. All in all, my preference for white wine and champagne was confirmed. In fact, Cliff gave us both nicknames, Sahle is ‘Sweet-tooth’ and I am ‘Bubbly’. We’re still contemplating a name for him, although it will be along the lines of the Energizer Bunny because he has so much damn energy.

That evening, we met up with some of Cliff and Refiloe’s friends for a few drinks and had dinner at a place called Le Perla – a bit of an old-school Italian restaurant in every way  except for the fact that all the waiters were Indian and over the age of 60. After dinner we had milkshakes and mojitos at this new trendy hotel called the Extreme. It was weird drinking an Oreo milkshake at midnight.

 

 

On Sunday morning, we made our way to another wine estate for breakfast with Cliff & Refiloe’s friends and their small son. I mention this breakfast, because it was there at the beautiful Jonkershuis bar & eatery that I had the best French toast in the world!

We went to the outdoor market afterwards which is a maze of vendors pedaling goods mainly from every other Africa country except from South Africa. Strange but true – it is difficult to get indigenous crafts from South Africa at the markets. There were masks, batik prints, painting, wooden carvings, jewelry, clothing, everything distinctly African, but after a while it became clear that the vendors had all sourced from the same suppliers and we began to see the same goods pop up over and over. After that we went to the beach, where the water is ridiculously cold and hung for a bit. Then of course went to another restaurant until it was time to go back to Jo’burg….

 

 

But there are some curious things that happen behind the scenes. There are threads of racism woven into the fabric of the society there. It is acceptable to have black Africans and coloured people work as waiters and helpers, but the general expectation is that they return to the townships come night-fall and stay there until morning. As for the crime, It apparently is there, but as a friend of mine said “the ocean makes people forget about.” When went to wine tasting and several restaurants, we usually where we were the only black people in 360 degree sight – except for the waiters. The people there are very relaxed and carefree and many are dripping with money. The fast cars drive slow and people seem quite happy.