Saturday, May 2, 2015

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa    April 28-30, 2015

Larry and I left Hermanus, South Africa around 10:00am with a new driver, Randy.


He drove us along the N2 back into Cape Town to the Protea Hotel-The Breakwater Lodge. A very interesting hotel...it was once a prison and has been remodeled into a nice hotel and Breakwater Graduate Campus combined right next to the V and A Waterfront. This was a very convenient location to all the activities, shopping, and restaurants in the area.

 
Inside the hotel, the original prison floors are waxed shiny.
Newly added skylights opened the inside up.
 
Two original  cell doors remain.
 
 
 
The famous clock tower (1882) at the V&A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront. The bridge  that I am standing on swings open to let large vessels pass through to the sea...this is South Africa's oldest working harbor.
 
Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria of England, began construction on the harbor in 1860. The first basin was named after himself, the second  basin after his mother. The V and A Waterfront in Cape Town has sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Table Bay Harbor, the City of Cape Town and Table Mountain.
 Bridge swinging open for a catamaran to leave
The V and A Waterfront has over 450 retail outlets selling everything from fashion, home-ware and curios, to jewelry, leather goods and audio-visual equipment. It also has a large number of restaurants that represent foods from all over the world. The Waterfront is  a working harbor. The fishing boats can be seen bringing in fresh fish and  the large container ships were spotted being towed in by tugboats.
 
 
Memorial for South African Nobel Prize winners.
Nelson Mandela's Statue
 
Security guards were everywhere...many, many times we had been warned to be alert for camera and bag snatchers...it left  us with a cautious feeling everywhere we went. The Hermanus had guards in the shopping center parking lots and along the beach front....I guess with 25 % of the population without work, people get desperate.
 

                                              Creative arts for sale all over the waterfront

The weather seemed to change here in the blink of an eye...foggy and overcast one minute and bright sunshine the next.

 
 
The second day in Cape Town we took the City Bus Tour.

What fearless workers...cleaning the windows on the skyscrapers!
 
Old buildings (1896) were wedged in between new one...while skyscrapers across the street reflected in the windows  
 
 
Lutheran Church still provides services here in German each Sunday.

                                                         Cape Town's Botanical Gardens
                                                Hout Bay is a beautiful fishing village.
                                                           Gorgeous Camps Bay
                                                                 Clifton...so stunning!
                                                            What natural beauty!!!!
 



The Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town is an operational lighthouse on the South African coast, first lit on 12 April 1824. The lighthouse was the first solid lighthouse structure on the South African coast and the oldest operational lighthouse in South Africa. When the lighthouse was first lit, it burned Argand lamps fueled by sperm whale oil. The light from these lanterns could be seen for 6 nautical miles or 6.9 miles.Today the range of the light house is 22 nautical miles with dioptric flashing lights installed and a much needed foghorn.
 

The Beach Road was a spectacular ride.
 
                                 
               Table Mountain, Cape Town's iconic landmark, was our final stop of the day!

            We had a thrilling 360 degree revolving cable car ride with about 50 other people to the top.

The Top of the World in Cape Town.....Table Mountain National Park.....
one of the seven new wonders of the world.
 
                   The clouds rolled in obstructing the view in a matter of minutes....but......
the clouds rolled out a little later showing Cape Town below. 
 
Glad I had an extra jacket to wear today!
 
Cape Town view was spectacular!
 
Surprisingly...huge boulders were on top! Some believe this to be the oldest mountain in the world, formed of sandstone and granite by glacial and volcanic actions 520 million years ago.
 
 
 
 
The cable car passed going up as we were returning to the foot of the mountain..

                                  One final ride down Beach Road.....oh so spectacular!

 
 Parasailing is very popular in South Africa...this was a duel sailer.

 We enjoyed a great Portuguese lunch before leaving Cape Town...Grilled Kingclip and green salad.
 
               We left Cape Town at 6:30pm for our next adventure in Dubai, United Arab Emeritus.

Also wanted to mention that our body temperatures were checked at the airport before gaining our flight tickets....so glad that they are monitoring for Ebola.

 

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