Cape Town, South Africa... The Mother City

From flat-topped Table Mountain down to the blue waters of Table Bay, Cape Town is simply stunning.

Our First Day

Although we don't usually go for formal tours, we have found that there are times that having someone with us to hold our hand is the best way to see, feel and sense a destination. Having a guide in Morocco added to our experience. Same in Seville. With Cape Town, when I did the research I kept coming across accounts of a higher risk factor than I was comfortable with. For example, walking around the city at night was highly discouraged and I even read some about folks being accosted during the daytime hours too. For our first day, my gut instinct told me that we wanted someone holding our hand and I hired a guide. To top it off we made it into a food tour of the city. Cath was a phenomenal guide and spent eight hours with us, walking the city and taking us to places for food and drinks that made this initial voyage of Cape Town very special. I think you'll agree.

We met her for breakfast at a place that can't be described as just a restaurant. Along with serving us some delicious food, the atmosphere was warm, inviting and a cross between a garden and an antique store where everything inside was for sale.

Biltong

Our bellies full, we started out around the city. I noticed a small shop that sold Biltong. I mentioned to Cath that this was one of the South African foods I was hoping to try and she led us straight into a shop that sold nothing but.

The lovely shop owner explained to us about how Biltong is made. It's sort of like beef jerky in the states, eaten as a snack.

It was softer and more moist than beef jerky and the different flavors were really good.

Refurbished Tennis Shoes

One shop we went into that was really a cool concept was a tennis shoe refurbishing shop. We had never heard of this before and the folks in the shop were kind enough to explain that people would bring in their old tennis shoes for cleaning and repair. With the price of sneakers nowadays, this was a really neat idea. Maybe a retirement job for me?

The Company Park

Cape Town was settled back in the 1600's by the Dutch. They were looking for a route for getting goods and spices from India to Europe. The expeditions were brought by the Dutch Trading Company and hence the name of the city park in the heart of downtown Cape Town. A stroll through the park where on the other side was the church were Desmond Tutu preached.

Tutu's Church

Slavery in Africa

As Americans we sometimes tend to think that slavery was an American malady. As we have found out, slavery wasn't confined to just us. In fact, in Africa there was a sizeable movement to export slaves to the rest of the world and to also use them in the homeland. Our next stop was a building called the "Slave Lounge" where they were kept before putting them onto ships. Today the slave lounge is a very sobering and emotional museum.

Jabari

Sensing that we needed something a bit more uplifting after the museum, Cath took us to the home of a friend of hers named Jabari. A wonderul young man from Senegal, he told us his story of growing up never attending a school and his journey to Cape Town where he taught himself English and learned to cook. He prepared a wonderful meal along with his special coffee.

Bo-Kaap

Bo-Kaap is an area of Cape Town that used to be known as the Malay Quarter. It was a racially segregated area on the slopes of Signal Hill. When this rule was eventually lifted, and the slaves were allowed to buy property, all the houses were painted bright colors by their owners as an expression of their freedom. Many of the families in the Bo-Kaap have lived there for generations.

Faeeza's Home Kitchen

Apparently we weren't done visiting people's homes. Cath took us to one of the colorful houses in Bo-Kaap where the young lady lived and also held cooking classes out of her home. She not only prepared us a wonderful meal but Sonja got into the act and got a freebie lesson.