Every touristy place has a set of “must see” sights and activities. For Cape Town, Table Mountain is one of these – and we covered that yesterday. Another is a tour of the Cape, which is the peninsula that extends south 35 miles from Cape Town itself to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The vast majority of the Cape is included in Table Mountain National Park.

We took this tour with a guide eight years ago during our first trip. Abs and Trey, who visited Cape Town for a wedding before they were even married, did the tour on their own in a rental car. But now we did it with their three children along.

The first stop was a Maiden’s Cove, a bay ringed by some rock formations which the kids had some fun with. We took a bunch of pictures and then moved on.

Nic, our driver, was doing a great job both explaining what we were looking at and entertaining everyone. He looked like someone I knew, and I struggled to place him. Then it hit me and I looked back at some old pictures.

Nic was the same guide that took Sally and me on the Cape Tour during our first trip to South Africa in 2017! This is the kind of coincidence that’s hard to imagine. We used different travel agents, who booked through different local outfitters, and we wound up with the same guy! When I showed him the 2017 picture, he was flabbergasted as well.

The next stop was one that the kids, and the adults, were especially looking forward to. Near Simon’s Town on the east side of the peninsula there is a colony of African penguins. African penguins mostly live on islands off the southern coast of Africa, with this colony near Simon’s Town being the only mainland example. The penguins put on a show for visitors, waddling around, jumping in the ocean, nesting and caring for their young. There is a boardwalk with a viewing area that you are restricted to.

From there we headed to the furthest point south we would reach, Cape Point. The Cape of Good Hope, which is a mile or so west of Cape Point, is often thought of at the dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and is slightly south of Cape Point (1). But Cape Point is the tourist stop, due to the dramatic ridge that towers over the ocean, and the funicular that one can take to the top. You can also walk, which everyone but Sally and I did – we opted to ride.

Our last stop (after from a tasty lunch) was at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Nic lead us on a tour and explained what we were looking at; that’s much more useful than us just wandering around and wondering what everything was.

Dinner was at a wonderful steak house called Bovine. The food was excellent. Tomorrow we leave at 8:30 to catch a flight up north towards our first safari day.

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(1) Neither is the southern-most point of Africa; that is Cape Agulhas, located about 93 miles east of the others.

We’re staying at the Cape Grace for three nights. Today is the first full day, and we made some plans to fill the day. But before that, let me give you the obligatory review of our accommodations.

We booked three rooms: one for Sally and Me, one for Abs & Trey, and one for the three youngins. All are equal (1), but our room is more equal than the others.

Our room consists of the following areas:

• A large bathroom/closet/vanity area
• A large bedroom with two club chairs
• A large living room with a couch and dining table with four chairs
• A small bar area off the living room

So, a large suite. This was an upgrade; I don’t know how Sally manages to get us upgraded perhaps 50% of the time.

The other two rooms didn’t have the bar area and were smaller, but still plush with separate bed and living rooms. And also upgrades.

The rough plan for the day was Table Mountain in the morning, and wandering around the V&A Harbor area in the afternoon. Interspersed with appropriate meals and snacks.

Table Mountain is a must-see Cape Town sight, written up in all of the guidebooks. There are three ways to enjoy Table Mountain:

1. Just look at it from the city. It’s really big, and visible everywhere. You can guess from the picture above from whence it got its name – the flat top or table.
2. You can take a cable car ride up, and enjoy the views from the ride, from the summit, and can also take some short hikes on the summit. Four of us: Abs, Squeakers, Sally and I chose this option.
3. You can hike up on one of five different trails. The hikes are only 2-3 miles long, but climb a bit over 2,000 ft. The remaining three – Trey, Munchie and Bassgirl – took this option.

Unfortunately, the picture above is the mountain as seen yesterday; today, the weather was not quite as cooperative. It’s hard to tell, but (a) these two pictures are approximately the same view, and (b) Table mountain really is in the second picture behind that thick cloud.

Anyway, when you’re on vacation, why let a little cloud interrupt your plans? So the three hikers left around 8:30, and the softees planned to arrive at the summit via cable car around 11:00 to meet them.

By the time we reached the summit we realized that our stay would be pretty short. Waiting for our cable car, we saw it appear out of the cloud. When we disembarked at the summit, the weather was dreadful. Cold, windy, mist blowing in our faces. You could see maybe a hundred feet or so.

Suffice it say, we waited for the three musketeers to reach us and then we all went back down on the next cable car. In fairness, the hikers did say that the weather was fine for most of their hike. It was just near the top that it got really nasty.

We made a quick stop at the hotel to regroup and change clothes if needed, and then headed back to the V&A waterfront for lunch and to do some shopping. There’s always lots going on there: musicians, singers, We also bought some stuff. Sally bought some small bowls to match ones that we got last time we were here; Sally and Abs both bought winter coats to wear on the safari drives later this week and next.

I should mention the food here. We’re generally enjoying it. Like everywhere, some is better and some is not so great, but overall it’s been very pleasing. The hotel has a nice buffet breakfast. In advance of the trip, we had our travel agent make reservations in three restaurants, one for each of our Cape Town evenings. Wednesday night was a “casual” place in the V&A waterfront, which meant jeans (2) are acceptable. Last night we ate in The Black Sheep. We were all a bit skeptical, as the menu was unusual and it was supposedly upscale. However, we were very impressed – we had several dishes and they were all good. Despite the billing, we found that jeans are acceptable.

Also, the food here is very inexpensive. Draft beers are $2-3, local wines are $18-25 for a bottle in the restaurants. We had dinner for 7, with drinks appetizers and deserts, for $209 !

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(1) see Animal Farm (G. Orwell)

(2) Due to our severe packing constraints, jeans form a major part of everyone’s wardrobe. I have two pair of pants, one of them jeans.

We spent a long 26 hours from leaving our home in the US until we arrived at our first stop, the Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. The trip was uneventful. We got to JFK on time, our first flight to London left and arrived on time. We spent an hour and a half in the lounge at Heathrow, before boarding our flight to Cape Town. Enough time to use the bathrooms, eat a light meal, and stretch our legs.

Then back on the next flight. This was a much longer flight; about 11 hours overnight. At least, this gave some of us time for a good night’s sleep, unlike the quick, seven hour, NYC-London flight.

At the airport we were met by two handlers who did little more than escort us to the passport control sign, and then wait with us on the long-ish line. Sally likes this kind of extra service; I would have been happy to find our way there on our own. I must admit that they did save us a little time by getting an official to allow us to cut about 20% of the line, and they did wheel five of our seven carry-on bags from the passport line to the terminal exit, where we were met by our driver.

At the hotel we checked out our rooms, then had lunch at the hotel. We all realized that we would fall asleep if we went to the rooms, so we walked over the the V&A (1) harbor area and looked around at the shops and activities. The V&A is a very secure area in a not-so secure country. Then back to the Cape Grace Hotel to relax and clean up before dinner.

Let me introduce you to our crew for this trip. Starting, of course, with Sally and Me. We’ve been on a lot of trips together.

Joining us is Abs, our daughter, and her family.

Husband Trey, and her youngest daughter, Squeaks.

And their two other daughters, Bassgirl and Munchie.

This entire crew showered, in some cases put on makeup, and then went for a fun dinner back at the V&A.

We ended the day right after dinner, as we were all pretty exhausted. Tomorrow will be our first full day in CT (1), and we already have some morning activities planned.

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(1) Cape Town , not Connecticut.

We left the house early – as Sally would say, in the middle of the night – to begin our journey. We’ll meet the kids at JFK’s for the first air leg to London. My guess is that we will need 25 hours or so door to door.

I’m amazed that we fit everything we need for almost two weeks in Cape Town and the safari camps into these small bags. And that I fit the camera gear needed to get good pictures into an 11” square box (plus lots of accessories).

But we did.

Part of the reason, of course, is that we don’t want to check any luggage on the long flights. But we are also taking a small charter flight for one in-country leg, and they don’t allow larger bags because they can’t fit through the hatch into the “trunk”. While we’re not sure exactly what “larger” means, we believe these bags will fit.

Anyway, our entire group is at the airport and we are ready to leave in a little while. With seven roll-a-boards and seven backpacks. Next update after we get to Cape Town!