After a very long but pleasant flight we land in Johannesburg where we have just a three hours waiting before the last leg to Cape Town. The hotel has arranged a driver to pick us up at the airport. We know we are getting a nice hotel, so that we can reload our batteries before the long overland (truck tour), but we didn’t expect it to be as nice as this! Amazing huge bed, full minibar, bathtub, flat screen TV, coffee, tea and snacks of all sorts. It is really a great room and we’ll say our money are well spent!
The idea of having to spend six days here makes me really happy!
After a long, invigorating sleep we get up and head to Long Street for a nice breakfast. Stroll around to the gardens and stop at the Planetarium. The weather is good, the kids are running after the ducks and the parents are having a Sunday picnic on the grass. It’s nice and relaxing. Along the gardens we stop at the art gallery for some contemporary African collection. Time for an early dinner and then back to sleep off some more of the jetlag (and enjoy the room).
On the second day in town we walk down to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, a little town on its own, right on the water, with bars and restaurants and shops and markets. We decide for a beer tasting at the local micro brewery, while enjoying the sun and the sea breeze.
Cape Town must be classified as a very special city: African in the heart, yet heavily influenced by the European colonization. It is a powerful and charming mixture of extremes.
Even if we need to waste days going back and forth to the banks, facing all sort of problems, withdrawing US dollars for our upcoming tour, we spare some time to visit the slave museum and the Distric Six museum which are just in the heart of town.
For dinner we try the steak house in the hotel lobby, which serves us good food.
Also, a funny thing is that in front of the open kitchen there is a space where you could select your cuts of meat, like some sort of butcher on the spot. The cook would come out of the kitchen and cut your piece of meat and then bring it to the grill.
Next, we go shopping for sleeping bags and a few outdoors accessories we miss for our trip. These are really easy to find, since there are quite a few outdoors shops around.
Our trouble with the bank forces us to drop the day tour to Cape of Good Hope. But it just means we can keep it for the next time!
It’s time for our predeparture meeting with our guides and fellow travellers, so for our final night we move to a hostel in upscale district Green Point where the meeting is held. We are 21 people to start this exciting trip! So much to do and so many new faces to get to know! The departure is at 8am tomorrow…