I was very excited to travel to Capetown- mostly to just be able to relax- but I never imagined that it would be such a beautiful place. Capetown, often referred to as the “Mother City” of South Africa holds up to all the great stories I had heard. There is so much to see and do in this busy, upbeat city that I wish we could have stayed for even longer! I will just share about fun stories of things we did and also have plenty of pictures to go along with the stories. I really hope you enjoy reading about the places and also seeing the pictures. And I’m sure after reading and seeing you won’t be able to resist coming to Capetown!
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront:
This is a very famous place right on the harbor of Capetown. This was one of my favorite places to hang out. There are tons of shops, restaurants, harbor tours, live music, African dancers, men appearing to be statues, etc. It is so upbeat and lively that it is just really fun to get dressed up and walk around. We also were able to enjoy a super cheap harbor tour on a boat. There were many seals on the dock right next to us. It is a really beautiful view from the harbor of all the hotels, mountains, ships, Robben Island, etc. This is one of the best places to be on New Year’s Eve because the fireworks are shot off right across the harbor over the water. Despite the massive crowd we were able to get amazing seats right next to the water (I had to take my shoes off in fear that they would fall into the harbor!) and watched the great fireworks from there. It was an awesome way to ring in 2009!
Boulders Coastal Park and Stony Point:
These are two famous beach areas that have colonies for the penguins that are native to South Africa. (really strange huh?) They are called the jackass penguins because of the obnoxious sounds that they make. In both of these places we saw hundreds of these penguins.
Cape Point:
This is on the south western part of South Africa. This is the spot where some geologists believe that the Atlantic and Indian ocean meet. There is a beautiful light house that you walk up to see and can look to both sides and see the oceans flow forever with some mountains barely seen in the distance. On the one side of the lighthouse the wind that is blown from the ocean is very cold (the Atlantic side) and the opposite side has much warmer air blown (the Indian side). This was definitely beautiful and really cool thing to see.
Cape of Good Hope:
This is the most south western point of the whole continent of Africa. In the old days many ships would crash into the mountain side from the really rough waves. So I’m not sure really why it is called the cape of Good Hope- maybe because you need good hope to survive.
Hillsong Church of Capetown:
On our only Sunday we went to the Hillsong church in Capetown. This is one of the few Hillsong churches in the world. It was started in June by the Hillsong church in Australia. It was by far the best church I have attended here so far. And of course the worship was great!
Betty’s Bay:
This is a bay on the Indian ocean side, so the water is fairly warm. Here the sunsets are absolutely beautiful. They also had many of these interesting snails all over the ocean. I found here the most beautiful spiral seashells that got stuck behind many rocks that were not broken at all. A few minutes away from Betty’s Bay there is a river that has a 26 foot cliff. The locals will often jump from this cliff into the river which has water that is fresh from the mountains. Although I was scared I jumped and it was so much fun!
Camp’s Bay:
Another beautiful beach that is on the Atlantic side. The waters are therefore very cold but can be quite refreshing on a really hot day. We spent some time here chilling and working on our tans on New Years Day. It is a really gorgeous beach with lots of rocks to sit on and gaze out into the deep sea. Sometimes you can even see dolphins!
Monkeys:
On our way to Cape Point we were driving along this bend and noticed that some cars had stopped on the side of the road. This was a strange place to stop and we looked over only to find a whole family of monkeys! We immediately pulled over and then got out of the car to take some pictures (we were still some distance away). Then all of a sudden the biggest monkey turned around and started chasing us! We quickly jumped into the van and slammed the door. Don’t worry we were safe from the monkeys!
Table Mountain:
This is the famous backdrop of the city and one of the biggest tourist attractions. It is a mountain that runs flat on the top and therefore looks like a table. There is a mountain that is shaped like a lion’s head right across from it. The clouds will often times be just right above the mountains- creating such a beautiful picture. Every where you go in Capetown Table Mountain makes a beautiful silhouette.
Well this is just a small taste of what Capetown has to offer and things we did. It was a really relaxing time and I truly enjoyed it. I wished we could of stayed longer but now we are back in Pretoria and are starting work again on Monday. We will be helping in the kitchen again at a retreat. Please pray that it won’t be too physically challenging as we are still desiring to relax. And that we might have a great servants attitude. Thanks for your prayers and I hope your Christmas and New Years was blessed!
