The Fairest Cape of All..

It has been argued that Cape Town is possibly the world's most beautiful city. I'm not sure that anyone has been able to say this for certain as yet, as nobody has visited them all, but I certainly see were they are coming from. On Thursday morning, we drove into Cape Town from the airport, I had my head pressed against the front window of the car, trying to comprehend the sheer magnitude of Table Mountain, its rocky and steep surface that seemed to rise straight up from the ground next to me.

James, a young Kiwi whom I had met at Perth Airport was waiting for me when I got to the hostel. He had arrived earlier that day so we walked into Cape Town to get our bearings.

After seven months of warnings, I was very surprised at how safe I felt walking down the streets. That night at the bar I met a guy who had lived in Cape Town for 30 years, and had never been robbed, but attributed this to always being cautious.

I did, however, see my first machine gun. While we were walking a van dramatically pulled up next to us. About five armed guards with machine guns ran out and jumped behind the nearest tree. James and I panicked! We were right in the middle of all these guns. We looked around furiously for the possible maniac that was about to blow us up. Then a guy stepped out of the van with one of those old fashioned shopping trolleys and went in to the nearest bank. He came out a few minutes later and all the machine guns got back in the van. South Africa's version of Armaguard!!!

On Friday I decided to face my biggest fear head on. The public transport system. While in Cape Town there are plenty of options favored by backpackers to avoid the trains, in other sections of Africa, for me there will be no options but public transport. I will have to do it eventually! In the morning I walked down to the station, through the markets, hundreds of people yelling trying to sell everything from cigarettes to hair extensions. I must have looked to nervous. My bag was zipped inside my jacket. I bought a daily ticket for 22R (About $4) fumbling with my wallet, trying to keep it out of sight. The train wasn't for another 40 mins, so I went and waited in a nearby department store, rather than on the platform. When I boarded the train I nearly burst out laughing. From the storied you hear around the town, I expected gangs and thugs cramming into each compartment, pick pocketers at the ready. Instead the carriage was almost empty, except for about 5 old ladies, with purple wash through thier hair, a girl about my age, and an old man who said good morning to me when I sat across from him.

The train ride was fantastic. First it followed the mountains, past Table Mountain, along the various outcrops that extend down the Cape, and then wrapped around the coastline, along False Bay, the longest beach in Africa. The view was exceptional. The Sandrigham line I use to catch to uni everyday has a lot to answer for. I took these photos from the train windows:









The end of the line was Simonstown, a cute English style holiday village. I wandered through the shops, looking at antiques and local art, then had fish and chips down by the water. Further down the beach was a penguin colony, of African penguins found only along this coastline. My first African animal!? I watched them waddle around and swim for about a while before I headed back to Cape Town.

I’m still walking fairly early and yesterday morning after I had been sitting outside for a few hours reading my guidebooks, trying to form some type of itinerary, Yon, a Dutchmen in his 70s, staying at our hostel came around to chat. He has had an amazing African journey, beginning in Egypt, spending a lot of time in Ethiopia before traveling down to Cape Town. He’s traveled most of the world. I explained that I was worried, with only 4 months in Africa, and so much I wanted to see I just couldn’t seem to squash it all in. Even in Cape Town already I felt that I was missing out on so much. The weather has been too bad to climb the Mountain, and I will probably come to Cape Town and miss out on seeing Cape Point, as there is no public transport out there, and the day tours as extraordinarily expensive. He laughed. “Yes! The day trips are criminal!!” he said. “But believe me, in the world there are many beautiful things to see. And you will never see them all. So don't try. If you can't see it, appreciate the other beautiful things you have been lucky enough to witness.” From were we were sitting the Mountain had turned orange as the sun was rising. He was right. It was enough to just be in Cape Town. I didn't have to run around taking pictures of it from every angle. The angles I had seen where beautiful enough. We talked for about an hour, until Darren, the Englishmen sleeping in the bunk above me wandered out. “Sorry to interrupt, Courtney I have hired a car for the day and I'm going to drive out to Cape Point, would you be interested in coming along?? “Yon, ill catch you later!” I said. Yon laughed and waved me off.