Hi friends - I am exhausted. This week I have suffered from massive jet lag! I am usually pretty good about getting back into the swing of things, even after a very long trip, but for some reason, this week I have been SO incredibly tired and unable to sleep at night! It must be my old age.. you know, now that I am 30 and all..
Anyway, I want to tell you all about my trip to Capetown! It was so so so much fun. Capetown is a really great city. I had really high expectations (my friend Stephanie, who has basically been everywhere, lists Capetown in her top five cities in the entire world), and I was not disappointed!!
We flew over on Friday morning, and the weather was sunny and gorgeous. Capetown is really unique in that it has gorgeous waterfront scenery and mountains all right next to each other. Makes for some great views and lots to do! We grabbed some lunch on the V&A Waterfront and walked around the shops and enjoyed the mild weather and the beautiful area.
We called it a fairly early night because we had a big day ahead of us! Saturday morning we hiked up Table Mountain! This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I love to hike, and this was an absolutely great hike. Nice climb, great guide, fun people, perfect weather.
We made it up to the highest point on Table Mountain, which is 1085 meters (3560 feet) high. Took tons of pictures. Ate some snacks. Drank in all the views. Basked in the blue sky and chased clouds. It was amazing.
The weather was a bit dicey (it was raining during our first leg of the bike ride), but it was still good fun. For those of you who don't know, I crashed my bike a couple of years ago, so I don't do much riding anymore. But it was so fun being back on the bike! We rode through the vineyards in the Constatia region, which is the oldest wine region in South Africa.
We stopped at some vineyards along the way and did our share of learning and tasting..
Anyway, I want to tell you all about my trip to Capetown! It was so so so much fun. Capetown is a really great city. I had really high expectations (my friend Stephanie, who has basically been everywhere, lists Capetown in her top five cities in the entire world), and I was not disappointed!!
We flew over on Friday morning, and the weather was sunny and gorgeous. Capetown is really unique in that it has gorgeous waterfront scenery and mountains all right next to each other. Makes for some great views and lots to do! We grabbed some lunch on the V&A Waterfront and walked around the shops and enjoyed the mild weather and the beautiful area.
Look at that gorgeous sky
Lots to do at the V&A Waterfront!
Cape Union Mart - kind of like REI. The Rand is so low against the dollar that we ended up coming back here again and again :)
Lunchtime!
Oysters!
I love love love to see boats
As it got close to sunset, we went up to this mini London Eye/Singapore Flyer. It was only 80 ZAR, which is about 8 USD, so we figured we might as well!
Sunset in Capetown
Great view of Table Mountain and the wharf below
The other side of the view
Shortly after our 12 minute ride, it was dark.
We spent the rest of our evening at a local brewery pub just hanging out and playing cards.
We called it a fairly early night because we had a big day ahead of us! Saturday morning we hiked up Table Mountain! This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I love to hike, and this was an absolutely great hike. Nice climb, great guide, fun people, perfect weather.
Water and snacks packed! We are ready!
View from the bottom.. check out that blue sky!
Our guide was an Italian named Pietro who had lived in South Africa for years, and we had a German couple hiking with us too - we were a pretty international group! We went up the back side of the mountain, on a trail called the Skeleton Gorge. The hike started in a botanic garden.. beautiful paved walkways and flora and fauna on a gradually upward sloping hill. But pretty soon, the gradual slope started to get sharper and sharper.. and then there were some stairs.. lots of stairs.. and then there were tons of rocks to scale and ladders to climb. The first two hours were a pretty challenging (for me) hike. I loved it!!
A little cloudy, but so far, so good
Starts to get steeper as we get into the woodier areas
Ugh.. steps up the mountain
More steps
Ladders to climb!
Beautiful green trees.. Capetown was full of color
More ladders!
Stephanie leads the way up some rocks
We hiked and hiked, and finally, we reached a high clearing, and I thought we were finished! In reality, we still had almost three hours of hiking to go. Haha. Luckily, the rest of the climb wasn't nearly as tough as the first half. We did a bit more climbing, but we also walked across the "top" of Table Mountain (the flat part that you can see in the pictures) in order to get to the other side. There was still definitely some tougher parts, but the first half was definitely much more difficult than the second half.
Hi!
Highest point
We made it up to the highest point on Table Mountain, which is 1085 meters (3560 feet) high. Took tons of pictures. Ate some snacks. Drank in all the views. Basked in the blue sky and chased clouds. It was amazing.
View from the top
The city below.. looks so tiny
The weather got pretty cloudy as we were walking across the top, so we didn't get to see much of the water from the top of the mountain. We made it over to the other side, and then we took a cable car ride down. (You can also take the cable car up the mountain if you don't want to hike it!) It was a great Saturday.
My pants look too short
On Sunday, we were up early (again!) to go on another fun activity!!
We did a bicycle winery tour!
The weather was a bit dicey (it was raining during our first leg of the bike ride), but it was still good fun. For those of you who don't know, I crashed my bike a couple of years ago, so I don't do much riding anymore. But it was so fun being back on the bike! We rode through the vineyards in the Constatia region, which is the oldest wine region in South Africa.
We stopped at some vineyards along the way and did our share of learning and tasting..
I fell off my bike (twice haha), but it was such a great time! Definitely a great way to do a wine tasting and get in some exercise. The scenery was beautiful even though it was cloudy, and it stopped raining after the first winery, so it turned out to be a pleasant day for a casual bike ride. Since many wineries are not open on Sundays in South Africa, they were all pretty empty, so it was nice to have most of them all to ourselves.
Monday came way too soon (as it always does), and we left Capetown to head back to normal life. As I mentioned at the top of this post, I've had a hard time adjusting this week, but luckily, it is already Thursday night! Tomorrow we have a fun celebration planned at work for something special, and I have plans to go wakeboarding this weekend as well! Should be fun :) And just to be a broken record - can you believe that it is basically June already?!
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