By Nancy Kivlen, Director of Leisure
Part One
Cape Town
We arrived in Cape Town after a thirty six hour travel day via Qatar Airways. They have a magnificent business class (they even give you a mattress to sleep on and pajamas). After an eight hour layover in Doha where we visited the Souk market, we were on our way to Cape Town.
We stayed at the African Pride, Crystal Spa and Towers hotel, which is a beautiful five star hotel in the heart of Century City about twenty mins from downtown Cape Town. The hotel is attached to a river walk and a beautiful mall. But now that I’ve seen Cape Town, I would recommend staying at the Waterfront which is a fun area in the heart of Cape Town with lots of great shops and restaurants close to everything rather than outside the city. It is not recommended to walk around Cape Town at night except in the area of the waterfront because it is loaded with tourists and shops.
Crystal Towers hotel room
On our first day in Cape Town we took a city tour of the beautiful Clifton Beach area and the twelve Apostles. It was a clear sunny, windy day perfect for picture taking. Then we went to the top of Signal Hill and watched the hang gliders and got a beautiful view of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, and Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisioned for nearly twenty years. Then we were off to a diamond factory to watch how diamonds are made (and to buy them of course if we wanted).
Clifton Beach, Cape Town
In the afternoon, we arrived at Table Mountain, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We rode the cable car to the top and got a beautiful view of all of Cape Town as we watched the sunset while the new moon rose over the city.
Cape Town from a cable car
Night falls over Cape Town from Table Mtn
On our second day in Cape Town, we took a tour of the Cape Peninsula. It was an extremely windy day (quite common in Cape Town), we traveled past Hout Bay, through a forest reserve and finally to Cape Point where the two oceans (Indian and Atlantic) meet. Otherwise known as the Cape of Good Hope, it is the southwestern most point on the African continent.
Cape of Good Hope
For lunch we stopped in Simon’s Town where we were able to see the Penquins at Boulder’s Beach. Adorable little Penquins that have taken over the whole beach and are fun to watch. Our final stop of the day was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – beautiful gardens on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Penguins Boulders Beach
On our final day in Cape Town, we took a tour of the Winelands area and did some wine tasting. This area, about an hour from Cape Town is truly gorgeous, looks like Switzerland or New Zealand. We first stopped in Franschoek for a bit of wine tasting and then to the adorable town of Stellenbosch for more wine tasting.
In my brief visit to Cape Town, I could quickly see why it’s listed as one of the Top Ten Cities in the World. It has so much to offer and is truly beautiful.
Johannesburg
The largest city in South Africa, we stayed at the five star African Pride, Melrose Arch Hotel. In the heart of an upscale shopping, restaurant area of Johannesburg.
Our full day there, we took a tour of the city that mostly focused on Soweto where the uprising against Apartheid took place. We visited Freedom Square, a Square dedicated to those that lost their lives fighting Apartheid. We past many of the poor Shanty Towns, called Townships and visited the Orlando Towers, painted now with graffiti commemorating the uprising which now offers bungy jumping. We visited Regina Church, the largest Catholic Church in South Africa and then went to St Paul’s Anglican Church, the church where Desmond Tutu use to preach.
Township Soweto Johannesburg
We stopped at Nelson Mandela’s former House, not far from Desmond Tutu’s old home. In this poor section of Soweto it is amazing to note that two Nobel Peace Prize Winners lived on the same street.
We finished the day at the Apartheid museum which is one of the best museums I’ve ever been too. Although it is emotionally disturbing, it shows perhaps the most important piece of South Africa’s history.
Apartheid Museum Johannesburg
Our lovely guide, Desmond, told us how he was held prisoner and tortured under Apartheid when he was fourteen years old, he is also featured in the museum.
In many ways, Johannesburg is simply another large metropolitan city, but it has so much history attached to it, I think it’s an important stop on a tour of South Africa even if it’s only for one day.
Stay tuned for Part 2…
Contact Carefree Vacations at 1.800.CONFIRM (266-3476) for information on your next trip to South Africa.
Tags: cape town, Johannesburg, Nancy Kivlen, South Africa, Table Mountain
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