We had a long wish list for Cape Town & the only thing we didn't do was shark diving simply becuase it was cold, rainy, and foggy... At the time it just didn't seem that appealing, ya know? …but despite one adventure being excluded from our journey, we got in plenty more!

After a terribly uncomfortable flight on Mango Airlines, we arrived that night in Cape Town, and headed over to Thrifty to pick up our rental car. We loaded our belongings into the tiny compact car, that seemed like it might fall apart if we hit the slightest bump, and headed to our hotel, The Portswood V&A Waterfront. We didn't arrive until around 10 PM, so once we were in our room, we got settled & immediately wound down for bed.

The next morning we woke to a very foggy view of the V&A Waterfront and were stoked to begin our day. We wandered downstairs to enjoy a complimentary breakfast buffet composed of the usual things, and similar to those in Europe. lt worked. Before, leaving for the morning, we ran upstairs to grab our belongings, then eagerly we exited the double doors on a grand adventure.

First, we wandered down to the waterfront, where we found a vibrant variety of restaurants and shops. I think one of our favorites was the V&A Food Market. It was an old warehouse filled with tiny mom & pop shops selling fresh juice, candy, ethnic foods, and gifts. It was really terrific spot to sample some truly tasty bites. Not to far from there we found a stand-alone multi-level gift shop, African Trading Port, that sold all the usual tourist tchotchkes, as well as several types of interesting African antiques… and let's not forget the animal skins and heads. This is probably one of the best shops I have visited. Just outside the shop there was a large life-size chess set for everyone and anyone to play with.

We continued on our journey across the swing bridge to the tiny building, Clock Tower Retail Center, of art and gift shops. There was nothing there for us, so we headed back past a couple restaurants towards the main area. As we headed back we stopped in front of the Victoria and Albert Hotel, where a live band was playing some wildly festive music (one of my favorite memories). We decided to have lunch there at Cafe Alfredo where the food was mediocre, but the atmosphere was phenomenal! We ended up buying the CD from the singer of the band because their energy was infectious!

After a magical lunch period, we ended up discovering The Watershed, another large warehouse style building that was turned into shops on the bottom floor, and a collaborative work space on the top floor, that also had a coffee shop. We hung out here for a while admiring the countless treasures awaiting new homes before we went on to find the attraction booths for boat rides & wildlife tours.

We found the Victoria and Albert Mall which had plenty of shopping, and great food options. ...and a couple fun looking bars, but eventually we lost interest and headed to the nearby aquarium, Two Oceans Aquarium. It was "seniors day". The place was plagued with senior citizens enjoying all of the aquatic life in their glass cages. It was sweet and pleasurable to watch the elderly individual behave like little kids with their curious minds while playing with their friends... Brad and I made our way through fairly quickly because of all of the crowds, but it was still a good use of an hour or two.

Upon exiting the aquarium we decided to try a different route, we went the opposite direction from our hotel which took us past the stadium and lead us to a street of restaurants... We continued further, and eventually found our way into a park where we walked along the wall that lined the Atlantic. There were tide pools below speckled with starfish glued to the rocks submerged under the crystal water. As we walked along, we watched some paragliders soar down from the mountain behind us. They sailed over head with what had to be amazing views, looped out over the ocean, and eventually landed on the park grass nearby. As we started to head back, we decided to stop and rest on a bench for a while. As we sat there we watched a kayaker disappear into the distance before we decide to head back. We followed the path a long the ocean once more until we reached the gas station, which caused us to reroute back the way we came.

As dinner time approached we weren't sure what we wanted, so we decided to head back to the waterfront. Our first instinct was to check the V&A Food Market. However, sadly it was not open during the evening... We checked The Watershed, but it was closed too. We eventually ate, but I can’t even tell you where. We weren't out too late, and eventually were exhausted with our surroundings and just headed to our bed.

The next morning after breakfast, we retrieved our car & began our drive to Boulders Beach which was about an hour and fifteen minutes away. We were going to see the penguins, and I could hardly hold in my excitement! We popped in our African CD that we bought the day before and enjoyed our scenic journey. The drive was effortless, and we enjoyed driving through small seaside Simon's Town. Once we arrived at Boulder's Beach we found a parking spot, and began our stroll downward toward the beach. We had to pay a park entry as it is considered a National Park, a very small one, and had to stay on the elevated boardwalk.

There were penguins scattered all around us as we made our descent. They laid in their little dug out nests, and blatantly ignored us as we walked by. It was clear that people mean nothing to them now. Eventually, we reached the end of the walk where you could oversee the penguins playing in the surf and scouting for fish. They would waddle in, duck in and out of the surf, and waddle back out. They seemed ready to take a much needed break and sun themself on the warm sand amongst the plethora of penguin chicks who were clearly in transition to adulthood as they shed their baby feathers.

I hung out at the end for quite a while and snapped a ton of action photos, while Brad wandered off on his own for a little while. Eventually, I had to go meet up with him. I knew he wasn't enjoying it as much as I was, and for his sake I knew it was time to go back to the car.

When we got back in our rental, we decided that we wanted to see a little bit more of the peninsula, so we continued heading toward Cape Hope. We realized at one point that we would have to turn around because the Cape was also a National Park that required a fee to drive through, and we just didn't feel that it was worth it. So, as we continued our journey back towards the heart of Capetown, we pulled over near one of the cliffs to snap some pictures of the beautiful frothy turquoise waters below, and the cape beyond in the distance. At that point, we did have to be aware of scandalous baboons in the area. We had heard stories of them breaking into cars to find food, and stealing human things, and there were signs near us that warned against such things... Thankfully, we were in the clear at that moment.

We stopped back in Simon's Town to find a place to lunch and check out some of the local shops. With nothing to show.. I started getting pretty crabby. We eventually settled on the restaurant in one of the small local Inns. The food was fair to say the least, but it was food, and I was slightly revived for the time being. The rest of our drive back to Cape Town was almost unbearable since we got stuck in an incredibly large amount of traffic that cause our drive time to double.

Finally back in our neck of the woods with nothing more to do that day, we just hung out in the Waterfront area, eventually settling on dinner at Mitchell's Ale House which despite being recommended by tripadvisor, I wouldn't recommend for dinner. It’s probably a better spot for beers instead!

The next morning we had big plans again, a visit to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. With plenty of ground to cover, we could have easily spent the whole day there exploring, hiking, reading, etc. It was well worth the price! Thankfully, they will let us exit and re-enter so that I could visit the on-site cafe since I needed something to eat and it was the only thing open at the time.

After soaking up nature, we got in our little “gelapi” and made for Bo Kaap which to my understanding was a great trendy part of town with great opportunities for food and shops.... WRONG... I was dead wrong. It was basically a few colorful streets stuck in a rather run-down part of town that seemed like it had a heavy middle-eastern influence. No fun shops, no restaurants... Just a couple colorful streets with random groups of tourist trying to get a fun picture. TIP: If you don't have a lot of time in Cape Town... Skip Bo Kaap, it's not worth it. There are better places to visit, and better things to do.

After feeling completely let down by Bo Kaap we decided to head on to Camps Bay which is more of a resort beach town with mansions built into the hills and mounts that line the ocean. It was astoundingly beautiful, at one point as we weaved through the hilly roads, we almost hit a small confusion (aka group) of guinea fowl that were crossing the street. It was a funny moment because the birds seemed so out of place to me after just seeing them on safari in the Kruger area.

Once we were back at sea-level and across from the beach, we parked on a random street where a gentleman assured us that he would be keeping an eye on our car. (I guess break-ins happen there??) We quickly found our away across the street and next to the beach. We wandered out onto the break wall where we could enjoy the view of the waves and occasionally be bathed with a salty mist. We looked back only to be in awe of Cape Towns Twelves Apostles watching over us before we slowly made our way back.

We walked down the sidewalk following the beach, and thought about walking out onto the sand... The issues was that neither of wanted sand in our shoes, so we stepped as lightly as possible toward the water, careful not to pollute our shoes with sea dust. We walked a little ways on the firm water-logged sand watching the locals and tourists on the beach.

As usual, it didn’t take long for hunger to set in. We head back, and started looking for tantalizing places to eat. We unanimously decided to eat at Col'Cacchio Pizzeria. It was so delicious! Great pizza and great bread accompanied by striking views of the beach below, and a grass field where we could watch some local young student goof off. After indulging in our tasty pizza we started to head back to the car, but we were not ready to leave just yet. We wandered into a couple of small gift shops that had some beautiful merchandise, but bought nothing. Instead, we settled on gelato... A Bradalie travel fave. We picked Gelato Mania. It was satisfying as we ate it on a bench overlooking the ocean. With full bellies, we decided it was time to head back around the cliffs to the waterfront... So we found our car and sputtered off along the coast.

We were left with the usual options... We hung out at the Waterfront, and ended up back at Cafe Alfredo for dinner. We had wine and feasted on so much pasta that we couldn't finish it. It was far better than the tomato soup we had for lunch the first day. Afterward, we did our best to walk off the carbs before headed back to the hotel for bed.

It was day four, and we were headed off to Stellenbosch to find wine and adventure. We found our way to Slaley Winery where each sampled 6 wines. Because I'm not a huge wine fan, Brad ended up drinking anything I didn’t want in addition to his. Our "wine guide" was great, very knowledgeable and friendly. He made it fun, opposed to stuffy.

Once we had our wine, it was shotgun time. Nothing like shooting an old school 12 guage shotgun after buzzing on wine. We had so much fun with this mini activity, especially because it was my first time shooting a real gun. I hit one of my five targets & Brad hit all five of his which brought us to the usual quoted average of three, which I thought was rather funny.

We left the winery in search of another that was recommended, but came up short. At this point I was having severe menstrual cramps, and was blatantly suffering... It was the wine, and Aleve wasn't doing me any good. I was hoping that food would help, so along the way we found a really cool restaurant called The Farmer's Kitchen. They had a pretty good array of food, but at this point I felt so sick that I could hardly think of food, but I knew i needed to eat so I ordered a hot sandwich with fries. It tasted good, but I was to the point of wanting to pass out on the bench.

Once we were back on the road I was committed to helping Brad find more wine to sample, but eventually the inevitable happened. I passed out. My body was so exhausted from the intense pain that I just couldn't go any longer. Unintentionally, I ended up sleeping the entire way back into Cape Town. I felt terrible, but there was nothing to be done about it. After that, I knew I wouldn't be drinking any more. I was slow moving that evening, and once we got back to the hotel I laid down for a little while longer. Finally, Brad was encouraging me to get up so we could get dinner, and I agreed.

As we took the roads of Cape Town by foot, we found a really cool beach side restaurant called The Grand Cafe & Beach. It looked interesting, but we weren't ready to commit just yet. Wiling to explore our other options, we continued along the boardwalk that was surrounded by small beautiful fluorescent pink flowers. Despite our efforts to find the perfect dining location we found nothing except a beautiful sunset over the sea. We watched for a little bit, and then decided to get back the search. Plagued by indecision, we ended up settling on one of our favorite cuisines, Indian food. We headed back to a place we had seen on day one during our explorations, The Jewel of India. The food was so good, and the service was comparable. We were so satisfied, and good to go again. We did our usual evening wandering to take in the night air and unwind.

Our last full day ended up being tricky. I really wanted to go shark diving, but the weather had been so gloomy & unpredictable the last several days that we decided we were better off skipping. Instead, we decided to head up to Table Mountain, in hopes that the clouds would break. It paid off! We took the packed cable car up to the top where I was able to fill one of my lifelong dreams of standing on a plateau. It wasn't just any plateau, it was the world's largest. SCORE! We easily spent a couple hours on top exploring, climbing all over, and taking in the breath taking views below.

Around lunch time, we headed back down the mountain, dropped off the car at the hotel, and headed back out for Indian food... (Yes, we had Indian food twice in less than 24 hours.) Afterwards, we decided to just walk. As we explored along the main roads, we watched the local kids goof off after school, some of which made me nervous as they played along the street. We just walked …and walked …and walked. When we reached the park that lined the sea, we started to head back. We wandered along the coast as long as we could while we witnessed some pretty intense waves crash up against the wall and come splattering down on the ground around us but not on us, thank God. We watched the locals let their dogs run in the grassy fields, we saw a funny ocean-side miniature golf course, and few other quirky attractions. We were on a mission as we walked back to the Waterfront in search of snacks. We decided the V&A food market would be a good place to check out for some snacks. I got a crepe and Brad got sushi upstairs. We were both happy to be eating two of our favorite things... but we needed more. After more aimless wandering through African Trading Port, we got to watch a mind-blowing sunset behind table mountain.

When it came time to eat dinner, we wanted something of little effort, so we ended up getting Asian food from the mall food court, and it wasn't half bad. Then we finished it off with Cinnabon; no regrets! We ate our scrumptious meal outside while we watched the funny 80's music videos that played in the small amphitheater. RIP George Michael.

Not ready to retun to the hotel, uncertainty flooded over us in regards to what was next. We decided it was time, time to do something that was totally low priority. We rode The Cape Wheel. It took up a pretty decent length of time as we went round and round in circles. I loved seeing the Waterfront from the sky. …then we went to bed.haha.

It was our final day in Cape Town. We had an evening flight that night, so we had the better part of the day to waste. We ended up driving out of the city to a massive mall/theme park, Canal Walk Shopping Center, whose name is misleading. The shops are all in a big mall-like building, not along the canal... We tried to walk along the canal, but it kind of stunk, literally and figuratively. The theme park wasn't open, so we just did laps inside the mall for something to do. We thought about seeing a movie, but there were no viable options that interested us, so we decided to head back into the city. In our quest for new and exciting we found BEERHOUSE, a local brewery serving up tasty foods and brews. We were there for quite a while, or until we grew tired of all the smoke blowing our direction from the table next to us. Next, we wandered through a couple gift shops, but found nothing noteworthy just the usual "crafts".So with our interest fading away quickly, we got back in the car and decided to call it quits. We had killed enough time, and we were ready to get to the airport for the final leg. Zanzibar!

ISSUE 21: Cape Town, South Africa 2016