Capetown Highlights

Today is Saturday the 12th, marking nearly two weeks in South Africa and the end of five days in Capetown. Sorry folks, no pictures as we are low tech on this portion of the trip. Nevertheless, pictures aren’t necessary to say that Capetown should be on everyone’s travel bucket list. The city offers something for everyone – rigorous butt-kicking hikes, super yummy tasty cuisine, well-designed museums that chronicle the city’s turbulent history, plenty of gorgeous beaches, impressive shopping, did I mention the great food?

I’ll get to the highlights shortly but let me say here that we had a very easy time in Capetown. For all the fear-mongering in the travel guides, we never felt unsafe or uneasy. It’s obvious from the gates, guards and fences that violent crime is an issue, but nobody tried to hijack us in broad daylight and walking around the main drags of the city during the day felt like any city without the reputation. That being said, locals we met did advise against walking around certain areas at night and stressed the importance of driving or taking a taxi. Given the neighborhood we live in back home, and considering unchecked gun violence throughout the American suburb, who’s to say South African streets are any less safe?

Overall, Capetown will appeal strongly to outdoor adventurers, winos and history buffs who follow slave trade routes and civil rights struggles. In our four short days, we climbed Table Mountain, learned all about the Indian Ocean slave trade (as opposed to the Trans-Atlantic), visited the District Six Museum, drank some Cape blend red, caught a musical and visited Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept). We also arranged a township tour to Langa, Capetown’s oldest township.

Details coming up. I’ve about had it with this tablet keyboard : (

One thought on “Capetown Highlights

  1. LOVE this update, so interesting.
    Sounds like a heavenly time so far.
    To support your view of Capetown, my friend’s middle junior-in-college daughter spent 4 months there interning at two big hospitals and travelled/adventured extensively throughout on the the outskirts of the city. They never had a problem, and experienced what you did, incredibly culture, immense nature, etc.

    Keep the stories coming!

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