Day Five: Cape Town, Table Mountain/ WinelandsCape Town (and its surrounding areas) is ridiculously beautiful. I kept snapping pictures frantically but none of them do any sort of justice at all to the real thing. On Friday we took the cable car up Table Mountain. The scenery from up there is like no other.
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ponash, on Flickr
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Bo-Kaap, Cape Town's Muslim Area:
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ponash, on Flickr
Leaving Cape Town, we drove through the spectacular mountain scenery and fertile valleys of the Cape to Backsberg Estate Cellars. The winery is owned by a Jew and we were able to do a kosher wine tasting there.
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
We then went to another vineyard - Delaire Graff Estate. They call this The Jewel of the Cape Winelands and with good reason. The owner, Laurence Graff is an English jeweler and the founder of Graff Diamonds. He’s extremely wealthy and built this magnificent estate. The surrounding scenery is breathtaking and all together it’s just an incredible place to be.
The view from the estate:
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
The South African National Flower, The King Protea (open and closed)
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
We then drove through Stellenbosch, South Africa's second oldest city. This oak lined university town has really interesting history, showing different styles of architecture from the Dutch to the English.
We then returned to Cape Town and prepared for Shabbos.
Day 6: Cape Town (Shabbos)Shabbos was nice and relaxing. Our hotel was right near the water and we were able to walk on the promenade. After Shabbos we went to the V&A Waterfront, which is a working harbor. They have a lot of nightlife there and a big, nice mall.
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ponash, on Flickr
Day 7: Cape Town, Cape Point/Cape of Good HopeSunday morning we started by going to Hout Bay, a beautiful little fishing village. On the shore of Hout Bay we went to Mariner’s Wharf, from where we took a boat trip to Duiker Island, also known as Seal Island. The boat ride was really nice and we got to get a close look at the seals.
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ponash, on Flickr
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Our guide then took us an awesome, little known (to tourists) market where we browsed for a bit. We then continued on the Chapman’s Peak Drive. This has got to be the prettiest drive in the world. Every time we thought we had seen the most beautiful scene, we rounded a bend and were faced with another.
Some scenes from the drive:
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
Cape of Good Hope:
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
We continued on to Cape Point. The peak above Cape Point is higher than that above the Cape of Good Hope. The higher peak has an old lighthouse on the top. At that point it was really cloudy and we weren’t sure we would be able to see anything but decided to try our luck. So we took the funicular up. The clouds over there are really low and we were practically in the cloud. They ended up moving very fast and we got some incredible views.
These 2 pictures were taken one after the other:
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
At the bottom of the lighthouse:
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ponash, on Flickr
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From up top:
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
We then continued on to Boulders Beach, home of a colony of African penguins.
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
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ponash, on Flickr
After we got back to the city we went to Avron’s for dinner. They were busy and we waited a really long time for our food, but once it came out everything was delicious.
To be continued…