Week in Cape Town, South Africa

After spending one night in Johannesburg in a hotel near the airport, we flew down to our last stop in Africa, Cape Town. We arrived to rather chilly winter temperatures, a big change from the northeast part of South Africa. We booked the Etafileni Studio Flat, which we found through AirBNB for our week in Cape Town. The flat is in a wonderful neighborhood, within walking distance to Table Mountain National Park.

Cape Town Winelands

Since it looked like our first full day in Cape Town would be rainy and cold, we booked a winery tour with African Story Tours rather last minute. The tour included transportation to the winelands, cheese and chocolate pairings, lunch, a cellar tour, and tastings at four different wine farms for just 990 ZAR per person, which is about $70 USD. I mentioned that we were vegan when booking and they said that was no problem and that all the wines at the wine farms they visit are organic and vegan-friendly already – sounded perfect for us! 

We were picked up at our flat by Nick, our guide for the day.  He had about 10 other travelers from the United States, Brazil, New Zealand, and Germany with him already and we all headed to our first stop, Fairview Wine Farm in the Paarl wine region. There we were treated to a tasting of six wines and everyone was offered a flight of six artisan cheeses made on-site to pair with each wine if they so desired (we passed on those but everyone who tried them loved them). Our favorite wine was the Fairview Extraño, a delicious red blend of Tempranillo, Grenache, and Carignan grapes. 

The next winery we visited was Backsberg, where we sampled and learned about MCC style wines, which are sparkling wines made only in South Africa. We also sampled their Pinotage, a grape variety that was created in South Africa in 1925 as a hybrid of Hermitage and Pinot Noir grapes. We sampled and purchased a bottle of their Pumphouse Shiraz, which was our favorite wine of the entire day. We were also able to try Backsberg’s 15-year brandy, which for myself would have to be an acquired taste. Dark chocolates were offered to pair with the brandy. After the tasting our group enjoyed lunch in Backsberg’s cozy restaurant. They prepared a really nice pasta dish with delicious homemade bread for us and everyone was offered a glass of wine with lunch. 

Next we set off to Remhoogte Wine Estate near Stellenbosch, which had a cozy tasting room with a wood burning fireplace overlooking their vineyards and an area with zebra, wildebeest, and springbok roaming about. Wine tasting combined with wildlife viewing – brilliant! We sampled their Chenin Blanc, a varietal I rarely drink at home but have learned to appreciate in South Africa. 

The last winery we visited was Muratie Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. With a history dating back to the 1600s, it is one of the oldest estates in South Africa. Their tasting room had a wood burning stove, antique wine-making equipment, stained glass windows, and plenty of dust and cobwebs, making us feel like we were in a haunted house. It was dark and dingy, but in an oddly charming way. Their wines were lovely with our favorite of the day being the Melck’s Blended Red.

Every wine farm we visited on this tour offered an outstanding tasting room experience. We were highly impressed by the quality of the wines and the value, as many bottles of wines we liked were priced below $10, with the more expensive bottles generally being priced in the $30 range. Our guide Nick from African Story Tours was entertaining and we learned so much about South African wine and the region from him. This tour was an incredible value and suitable for vegetarians and vegans. This was one of the funnest wine tours we had ever done and even with the rain, the scenery throughout the day was lovely. We are so glad we had the chance to explore wine country in South Africa. 

Boulders Beach Penguins

We rented a car for our week in Cape Town to be able to drive around the area and explore. Rob rather enjoyed getting used to driving on the left side of the road. After briefly meeting up with some of our friends from our overland tour who were also in Cape Town at the time, we drove down to Boulders Beach near Simon’s Town to see the African Penguin colony that lives there. It was great to see that the penguins have a beautiful, clean beach to call home and that the boardwalk for viewing keeps the penguins separated from onlookers for the most part. There is an admission fee of about $10 USD for non-South Africans to access the boardwalk. The penguins were so fun to watch, especially when they would waddle in and out of the ocean. 

We drove farther south toward the Cape of Good Hope and stopped at several viewpoints to enjoy the magnificent scenery along the coast line. We saw a few groups of Chacma baboons along the road during our drive and they all looked happy and healthy.  

Hiking Table Mountain

Our AirBNB was literally at the foot of Table Mountain, which dominates the skyline of Cape Town. We were able to walk on some neighborhood trails from our flat and reach the Platteklip Gorge trailhead on foot in about thirty minutes. From there we hiked about 3.5 miles up a steep and rocky stair-like trail leading to the top of the mountain. The trail took us just under two hours and we found it rather challenging as it was very steep most of the way and the farther up we went the colder the temperature became.

By the time we reached the top (a 2,300 feet elevation gain) it was quite cold and windy but the views were stunning so we explored the top of the mountain as long as we could stand the cold. There is a cable car that goes up Table Mountain but it was closed for annual maintenance while we were there so we had the pleasure of hiking back down the mountain as well. From the top of the mountain back to our AirBNB took us about two more hours of walking. Platteklip Gorge is supposed to be the easiest trail up Table Mountain but we thought it was tough and had sore leg muscles for several days after this hike. The views were well worth the time and effort. 

Cape Town Walking Tour

We had hoped to visit Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated, while in Cape Town but tickets were sold out for all the dates we were going to be in town. We did take the Apartheid to Freedom tour with Cape Town Free Walking Tours. The tour is not actually free but you pay the guide whatever amount you like in the form of a tip, which is more than fair. Our guide Ken did an excellent job of explaining what it was like to grow up during apartheid through historical facts and by sharing his personal stories. He also took us to see landmarks such as St. Georges Cathedral, the Cape High Court, and the Apartheid Benches. He told us about many of the key figures both good and evil from the apartheid era.

We also went to the edge of the famous District Six, a once vibrant community in the heart of Cape Town where 60,000 residents from diverse ethnic backgrounds were forcibly removed from their homes by the apartheid regime starting in 1968 after it was declared a whites-only area. The relocated residents’ homes were demolished and they were forced to live in bleak townships up to 25 kilometers outside the city, all so the land where they lived could be redeveloped as a whites-only area. Many families still live in the townships where they were forced to move, dislocated from their original community, and living in poverty.

On the walking tour we visited City Hall where Nelson Mandela gave his iconic speech calling for peace, unity, and forgiveness in 1990 after being released from 27 years of imprisonment. This tour was emotional at times but I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how apartheid happened from a local’s perspective. A few days later we visited the District Six Museum, where a man who grew up in District Six gave us a guided tour of the museum and shared his personal history about being forced to relocate from his beloved District Six neighborhood, which was demolished. It was heartbreaking to hear about what he and his family went through and how a vibrant community and so many people’s lives were destroyed. He emphasized that the only race that should matter is the human race and that all lives are equal. I could not agree more.          

Hermanus Whale Watching 

July is early whale watching season in Hermanus, a quaint seaside town about 1.5 hours southeast of Cape Town, so we decided to drive down there for the day. We enjoyed a divine lunch at the Pear Tree Bistro overlooking Walker Bay. We had tried the day prior to book a whale watching tour by boat, but were not able to find any companies with availability so we tried our luck with spotting whales from land on our own.

We walked along the seaside Cliff Path near Gearing’s Point and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and artwork but did not see any whales. We then headed north to the section of the path near Grotto Beach at the recommendation of the waitress at Pear Tree Bistro. We walked down the path and watched the ocean with binoculars. After some patience we were rewarded with spotting two Southern Right whales peaking out of the water not too far out from the shore. We could see them rise to the surface periodically and spout water. While they did not ever fully jump out of the water and give us a good look, it was quite exciting to see the whales peaking out and swimming.     

Vegan Dining in Cape Town

I wrote a guest post on the Happy Cow blog about all the amazing food we had in Cape Town which you can read here. We went out to eat a lot and only scratched the surface of the seemingly endless dining options in this city, which is a haven for vegan foodies. Some of our favorite meals included a decadent all vegan breakfast buffet at Plant, bunny chow (a favorite local South African dish) and curry at Prashad Cafe, gourmet vegan comfort food at Lekker Vegan, and all the creative dishes we tried over several visits to The Kind Kitchen, including the Fegg ‘n Awesome, their version of classic Eggs Benedict.

There are of course many fine non-vegan establishments as well so there is definitely something for everyone. We were thrilled to have so many dining options available to us that we went a little overboard with going out to eat but most places were affordable so that worked out fine. With inexpensive local wine widely available as well, Cape Town is a wonderful destination if you enjoy wining and dining your way around town.

Cape Town is a beautiful city with a lot of painful recent history. It rained a good bit during our visit so their issues with drought and water shortages seem to have subsided for the moment. If you read the news about Cape Town you will learn more about the issues with violence and crime, which are very serious. We had no problems during our visit and we never felt unsafe at all. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful and we really enjoyed our time there. As long as you are responsible, smart, and careful (as we always try to be no matter where we are) Cape Town is a most enjoyable place to visit.