Fall in the Cape of South Africa is a spectacular time of the year to visit.
The weather is that jewel clear warm sunny late summer type of weather and its hard not to find yourself unwinding with it. I am in sandals and sorry I didn’t bring my shorts! After arriving at the clean and modern Cape Town airport, we went straight down to the Waterfront to enjoy fresh fish and chips for lunch. We sat outdoors, watching the sight-seeing crowds milling around and all the pleasure boats and yachts heading out on an oily calm sea. Not a breath of wind. It is amazingly clean and neat. Very Pier 39-ish.
After lunch we headed past the tour boats and shops towards the cruise ship terminal and the lovely Table Bay hotel. Ever “on the job”, I asked to be shown around the hotel and we had a fantastic tour – very professionally done and I am most inclined toward that beautiful hotel. It is connected to the big shopping mall via a marble walkway so in bad/windy/rainy weather there is no problem at all in getting out and about and enjoying time at the eclectic shops in the mall.
The rooms at Table Bay all have gorgeous views, either of the ocean and Robben Island in the middle distance or of the iconic Table Mountain, and are spacious while defined by understated luxury. We were told while there, that the gleaming white yacht moored outside is owned by the “sixth richest man in the world” – but I have yet to research and see whom it is! It was about the size of a Seaborne yacht so no small price tag!
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| Family room at Table Bay |
We left there and wandered through the waterfront area enjoying the sights and sounds (plenty of seagulls here!) and visited two other hotels – the Victoria & Albert and the Cape Grace. The V&A is actually an imaginatively refurbished 2-story warehouse. It used to store the luggage for the old P&O Liners that called frequently in Cape Town on their World Journeys half a century ago! It is very elegant and has a unique and comfortable character reflected in the painted brick and steel of its building. The Cape Grace is a little walk from there to the other end of the waterfront. Again views of Table Mountain dominate the rooms that look towards land while other rooms overlook the working harbor and ocean beyond. A gracious hotel with creative use of décor – look up at the chandeliers to see silverware arranged in a most artistic and comical way! Both this hotel and the One & Only across the marina have private yachts moored outside which guests can hire (complete with crew) to explore the surrounding shore.
The Radisson Blu deserves mention here too as one of a number of luxury hotels with an enviable position poised at the very edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The hotel boasts a wide verandah running around 2/3rds of the hotel with comfortable outdoor seating inviting guests to linger. This is exactly what we chose and over a delicious margarita, we watched the day turn slowly to evening as it does in this most southern African city at this time of the year. Sophisticated sundowners this time! With the fresh ocean breeze, crashing waves on the rocks and wharf surrounding us, and catching up with old friends – life doesn’t get much better! ?
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| Sophisticated sundowners on the Waterfront |
