South Africa 2007

In Cape Town, we stay in the Blackheath Lodge in Sea Point. Great b&b, spacious rooms, wonderful fresh breakfast. The lodge is located within walking distance of the famous Waterfront. The owner - Anthony - is extremely helpful with arranging transportation for us from the airport (in the middle of the night!) to the lodge, and he also knows the best places to eat. For the next day, he again arranges a shuttle bus to drop the four of us (incl. 4 bikes) in Stellenbosch. We can highly recommend Blackheath Lodge.

We stay for only one day in Cape Town, before starting our bicycle tour. In the morning, we go to the Waterfront. In the afternoon we make a trip up Table Mountain.

The Waterfront is a fun area to visit. Lots of great stores and restaurants. A wide selection of sailing, fishing and whale watching trips as well as superb views of Table Mountain. We are lucky to see a Table Mountain without its"table cloth" (cloud cover).

After lunch, we take a taxi to the Cable Car station to go up Table Mountain. This is a nice opportunity to see a little bit more of Cape Town. We are surprised to see so much "Dutch Heritage" in downtown Cape Town: Dutch street names, Dutch-style neighborhoods. Even our taxi driver has Dutch roots - and we are able to speak some Afrikaans with him. As long as both parties talk slowly, it is fairly doable to speak Afrikaans and Dutch in the same conversation.

It is well worth the trip (and the short wait) to go up Table Mountain. The views are spectacular.

The island you see off the coast is Robben Island - where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated as a political prisoner.

Anthony booked a table for us in Camps Bay for dinner that same night. From up here you can see the small beach community - only 5km away from Cape Town.

If you have the time - you can make great hikes in Table Mountain National Park. We have very little time, so we don't stray far from the cable car.

After a quick Cape Town discovery trip, we head back to Blackheath Lodge to put our bikes together. Tomorrow, we leave for Stellenbosch to start our trip.

Camps Bay was once a small sleepy sea-side community close to Cape Town. This is the town where school teachers used to live. Not any more! Nowadays properties in the beautiful town are extremely expensive, and no longer fit the budget of a school teacher. Great place to spend the evening - watching the sun go down from the beach. The rock in the background is called the Lion's Head.

Anthony - the owner of Blackheath Lodge - booked a table for us at The Codfather in Camps Bay. One of the best fish restaurants you can find. There is no menu - just a huge counter filled with fresh fish. Your waiter takes you to the counter where you can pick what you like - and you can get it prepared any style. This is what our selection for 4 looked liked. And they have great sushi too.