If you’re looking for ideas of what to do in Capetown, here’s what we got up to for the week…
Accommodation Capetown
We started our month in South Africa renting a penthouse villa in Camps Bay, Capetown via Airbnb, with an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. Camps Bay is a great place to look for accommodation in Capetown. It’s a trendy and affluent suburb, and you can expect to see chic cocktail bars and al fresco dining overlooking the glistening water.
On our first evening, we hit the main strip of town for cosmopolitan cocktails and a freshly caught seafood dinner at one of the local restaurants.
We awoke the next day to a brilliant clear, sunny morning. Capetown weather is infamously unpredictable and is often compared to English weather has it can change at the drop of a hat.
Since it was such a clear day, we unanimously decided to head up to Table Mountain as son as we could before any weather changes could hinder our view across the city.
Table Mountain Capetown
After an easy peasy climb, we were on top of Table Mountain in no time at all…
Ok, I lie, after a quick trip in the cable car, we were greeted by crystal clear views for miles around. You could see the whole of Cape Town and Robben Island from the peak.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sunbathing and dipping in the pool, the water of which was probably just as cold as the ocean.
V&A Waterfront Capetown
The next day we made our way down to the V&A Waterfront, where us girls indulged in some shopping and the boys checked out the sneakers and gadgets.
We leisurely strolled around the mall looking at nearly every shop, and then made our way outside to have a walk around the harbour. We ended up in an Irish bar (because of course there is always an Irish bar wherever you go) for a pub lunch and a beer as (quite thankfully) we were told we didn’t qualify for the free coffee on offer just over the road…
In the evening, we heard some of C’s school friends were in the area, so we invited them over for a braai (that’s a BBQ to us Brits), where I got to try Ostrich for the first time – which for some reason I had assumed (to everyone’s amusement) would be like chicken?!
Well, it’s definitely not. Cut thin, and rolled up with a centre of feta and herbs and grilled on the braai, it was delicious. We had also prepared marinated chicken, grilled halloumi, some disastrous ribs (which turned out to be lamb and immediately caught fire because of the fat) and to the others bewilderment I had offered up a greek style salad.
Apparently, salads are not a general staple of a good traditional South African braai. We had a chilled afternoon and evening of poolside laughs and food. In the evening the Capetown weather started showing it’s unpredictable nature when a sudden wind started to pick up and I was thankful to myself for having packed a jumper.
Blouberg Capetown
Our second day was a colder morning though we had assumed it would heat up. The mountain was covered with a tablecloth of mist and we were quite relieved we had made the quick decision to go the day before when it was clear.
Between us, we had decided to make our way over to Blouberg. We arrived to a misty and rather chilly deserted beach. The bar was a little place with a surf theme, where the outside tables hung over pools of water and the benches were full sized surfboards.
Shells were strung up from the wooden beams and the waitress painted our faces with tiny white flowers. Too cold to dip our feet but determined to not let our spirits dampen, we ordered flatbread and dips and a round of cocktails.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t improve, but Moyo’s bar would have been fantastic on a hot sunny day. The staff were friendly, the cocktails were good, and apparently there is also an indoor pool/bar section that just happened to be closed when we were there.
At one point the mist cleared enough for a nice view of the mountain but this was short lived. C told me there was a shipwreck off the coast that you could usually see but the mist had shrouded it from view.
Fish Hoek & Boulders Bay Simonstown
Following another dinner of braai food, a good sleep and breakfast on the balcony, we drove to Fish Hoek on our final day via Chapman’s peak with some utterly gorgeous views – and then on to Boulders Bay.
Chapmans peak was breath taking, and something I would reccomend to do if you are in Capetown and able to rent a car. However, it’s not a drive for the faint hearted or those not fond of heights! The winding mountain roads overlook startling cliff drops over crashing ocean waves.
Upon arriving in Fish Hoek, we found our way down to the harbor for a lunch of oysters, mussels, and chips. We then headed to Boulders Bay to see the only place in Africa where penguins nest. The reason for this is the temperature of the sea, which is quite literally freezing, so it wasn’t on my list of places to go for a quick dip!
It was a short-lived venture, though great to see, as it only really took 10 minutes or so to walk up and down the wooden walk ways and observe the penguins on the sand below. I’ll admit, at the time I was a little dissapointed, as it’s somehing that I’d always wanted to do in Capetown.
I didn’t find out until months after we got home that you can actually pay extra to go on the beach with the penguins, needless to say I was devastated! I would have happily paid extra money to see the penguins, had I known it was an option!
On our way back to Camps Bay, we stopped at the Cape to Cuba bar which I instantly fell in love with! It had a relaxed island sort of vibe, the floor was covered in sand, the walls were brightly colored with mismatched furniture and a rope swing in the restaurant.
Outside were shisha pipe areas and a bar with a stone pizza oven. We ordered a round of bright fruity cocktails, some handmade stone baked pizzas and sat back and enjoyed the sun which had finally made an appearance.
We still had the last rays of the evening and the next morning to lounge by the pool before it was time to pack and head down to C’s hometown a few hours outside of Johannesburg.
All too soon, Camps Bay and Capetown were in the rearview mirror, and we were back on a plane, Johannesburg bound to meet up with the rest of the family…
The Gypsy Heart Travels 