When life hands you lemons, take a week off to go to South Africa. My sister, Caitlin, had plans to present at a conference in Cape Town. With the opportunity to not only be able to see my sister but also get free lodging, I couldn't say no to taking a trip down south. I spent five days in Cape Town and one day in Johannesburg. Overall, the week was the perfect balance of beautiful nature and fascinating history.
Saturday: Cait and I toured some of the vineyards in Stellenbosch and Paarl, about 45 minutes away from Cape Town, with our trusty guide Granwell or "G-Man," We managed to taste at Fairview, Kanonkop, Muratie, Neil Ellis and Peter Falke vineyards. The area is truly beautiful and the wines did not disappoint.
Sunday: We joined another few tourists and our guide Marlene to tour the southern peninsula. We saw the quaint Simon's Town, visited the penguins at Boulder's Beach, hiked up to the Cape Point lighthouse, took the famous picture at the Cape of Good Hope and did wine tastings at Klein Constantia and Groot Constantia. We had a great combination of sushi and pizza for dinner at Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Monday: While Cait worked, I took a boat trip to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and thousands of other political prisoners were kept during apartheid. I did a bus tour around the island and visited the prison, with the tours led by former political prisoners. It was a really powerful experience, especially to hear one of the guide's talk about his experience while sitting in a cell that held up to 60 men at a time.
Tuesday: While Cait worked again, I bought a one-day ticket for the City Sightseeing bus. It was my first double-decker bus experience, though I think this one was a bit calmer than the tours I'm used to seeing in NYC. I first stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and a decided to take a spontaneous hike part-way up Table Mountain. I contemplated hiking all the way to the University of Cape Town, but remembered my experience in Ntchisi and realized I didn't have enough water with me. I hiked back down to take a taxi to the university, where I was mistaken for a student. I found out it was orientation week and there was a huge club fair going on, so it was really fun to talk to students. That night we ate dinner at Mexican on Long - the first good Mexican food I've had in Africa.
Wednesday: We woke up early to beat the crowds at Table Mountain. If we had more time I would have liked to hike the whole way up, but I'm glad we at least managed to hike around the top. After the 5-minute cable car ride, we hiked about 45 minutes to Maclear's Beacon, the very top of Table Mountain. While Cait worked in the afternoon, I wandered around the city center, stopping at the equivalent of Whole Foods for lunch and doing some shopping. My wandering took me a bit farther than I had planned, but I got a nice tour of Gardens district, saw parliament, and made my way to the District Six Museum. It's located in a Methodist church and houses tons of photographs and memorabilia and stories about apartheid in Cape Town.
Thursday: After going to the Johannesburg airport 5 times, I figured it was time to actually see the city, so I scheduled an overnight layover on my way back to Lilongwe. An unfortunate misunderstanding between me and the South African Airways staff left me leaving the Johannesburg airport without my suitcase. I tried to embrace the adventure and trudged on to the Gautrain to go into the city where I was picked up by the driver at Lebo's Soweto Backpackers hostel. I was lucky that the driver was picking someone else up on the other side of town, because I got an extra tour of Johannesburg - far different from Lilongwe or Cape Town. I did a two-hour bicycle tour through Soweto led by Lilunge, a Soweto native. We biked all around while hearing about the history and contemporary situation in the South West Township. I got a special treat in that Jacob Zuma was giving his State of the Nation address on the very night I was in Johannesburg, so we all crowded around the hostel's TV to watch his speech. It took about 90 minutes for him to actually be able to give his speech with so many people from opposing parties shouting and interrupting him. An interesting end to my quick tour of South Africa.
Saturday: Cait and I toured some of the vineyards in Stellenbosch and Paarl, about 45 minutes away from Cape Town, with our trusty guide Granwell or "G-Man," We managed to taste at Fairview, Kanonkop, Muratie, Neil Ellis and Peter Falke vineyards. The area is truly beautiful and the wines did not disappoint.
Sunday: We joined another few tourists and our guide Marlene to tour the southern peninsula. We saw the quaint Simon's Town, visited the penguins at Boulder's Beach, hiked up to the Cape Point lighthouse, took the famous picture at the Cape of Good Hope and did wine tastings at Klein Constantia and Groot Constantia. We had a great combination of sushi and pizza for dinner at Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
Monday: While Cait worked, I took a boat trip to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and thousands of other political prisoners were kept during apartheid. I did a bus tour around the island and visited the prison, with the tours led by former political prisoners. It was a really powerful experience, especially to hear one of the guide's talk about his experience while sitting in a cell that held up to 60 men at a time.
Tuesday: While Cait worked again, I bought a one-day ticket for the City Sightseeing bus. It was my first double-decker bus experience, though I think this one was a bit calmer than the tours I'm used to seeing in NYC. I first stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and a decided to take a spontaneous hike part-way up Table Mountain. I contemplated hiking all the way to the University of Cape Town, but remembered my experience in Ntchisi and realized I didn't have enough water with me. I hiked back down to take a taxi to the university, where I was mistaken for a student. I found out it was orientation week and there was a huge club fair going on, so it was really fun to talk to students. That night we ate dinner at Mexican on Long - the first good Mexican food I've had in Africa.
Wednesday: We woke up early to beat the crowds at Table Mountain. If we had more time I would have liked to hike the whole way up, but I'm glad we at least managed to hike around the top. After the 5-minute cable car ride, we hiked about 45 minutes to Maclear's Beacon, the very top of Table Mountain. While Cait worked in the afternoon, I wandered around the city center, stopping at the equivalent of Whole Foods for lunch and doing some shopping. My wandering took me a bit farther than I had planned, but I got a nice tour of Gardens district, saw parliament, and made my way to the District Six Museum. It's located in a Methodist church and houses tons of photographs and memorabilia and stories about apartheid in Cape Town.
Thursday: After going to the Johannesburg airport 5 times, I figured it was time to actually see the city, so I scheduled an overnight layover on my way back to Lilongwe. An unfortunate misunderstanding between me and the South African Airways staff left me leaving the Johannesburg airport without my suitcase. I tried to embrace the adventure and trudged on to the Gautrain to go into the city where I was picked up by the driver at Lebo's Soweto Backpackers hostel. I was lucky that the driver was picking someone else up on the other side of town, because I got an extra tour of Johannesburg - far different from Lilongwe or Cape Town. I did a two-hour bicycle tour through Soweto led by Lilunge, a Soweto native. We biked all around while hearing about the history and contemporary situation in the South West Township. I got a special treat in that Jacob Zuma was giving his State of the Nation address on the very night I was in Johannesburg, so we all crowded around the hostel's TV to watch his speech. It took about 90 minutes for him to actually be able to give his speech with so many people from opposing parties shouting and interrupting him. An interesting end to my quick tour of South Africa.