Cape Town

Cape Town, or Kapstad in Dutch, was the base of our trip. We stayed in the V&A Waterfront, a beautifully restored part of the old port, where you can more or less wander around without the constant feeling of danger.
The quite compact city of CT comprises the City Bowl (the commercial centre), Bo Kaap to the west, Gardens to the south and East City, the famous District 6 and Woodstock to the east. Most visitors limit their visit to the City Bowl (Waterfront included) and Bo Kaap. All of the above places are bounded by the magnificent, imposing table Mountain on the east. Going south along the coast, you have Clifton and Camps Bay, then Hout Bay where the paying Chapman´s peak drive starts, as well as some magnificent driving to the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Point.
Architecture is very interesting in CT, although as in many modern towns of this kind, beautiful colonial houses are found next to modern, indifferent buildings. There are excellent free walking tours from the centre of the city with 3 different contents (although a tip at the end of the tour is welcome, and the guides are very proficient). There are also visits to townships, the slums outside CT, offering the only safe way to see how the majority of the people live in SA.

There is an array of good restaurants in CT. Although in places like the V&A Waterfront they seem to be americanised, in the rest of the city you can basically find any kitchen you desire. You are expected to leave a 10% tip. Beware of the local habits: anytime after 20.00 it may be hard, if not impossible, to find a place to eat, especially in the province. V&A Waterfront may be the only exception to the rule, but you need to be on the safe side if you want to avoid KFCs as your ultimate solution.

We had our best dinner at Grand Africa, thanks to Renée, and our best lunch at Paranga restaurant. The breakfast at our hotel, Radisson red, were excellent, and the drinks at the rooftop by the caravan as well!
The Yard restaurant at the Silo district served us late one night that we were really hungry. Karibu was not bad at theV&A Waterfront, and the fresh fruit juices and snacks excellent at the Food lovers restaurant.

There are many places of course to visit in CT. Bo Kaap, the District Six Museum, the Company's Gardens, the Green Market Square and its handicrafts market, the Table Mountain, the Signal Hill and its canon firing at 15.00…

The Constantia wine route is just around the corner and covers 10 vineyards, in case you lack time to visit the original winelands, north of CT (Paarl, Stelenbosch and Franschhoek). Although less famous, it is the oldest wine producing region in SA.

One of the places that seem to be working in late-century rhythm is the Robben island boat station, where one gets the catamaran to the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. We made 3 attempts to visit Robben island, to no avail. You need to book weeks in advance, but wind seems to be a constant problem (an excuse?), which frankly left me t a loss (if the same rules were applied boats would never sail in Greece!).  Anyhow, if you really want to go, book well ahead and bear in mind that the two morning boats (09.00 and 11.00) have more chances to leave, before wind settles in and boats are cancelled. In this case, your money will be credited to your credit card (therefore do pay with one if you do not want to spend even more hours queuing in this archaically organized boat station to get your money back). If you have not booked ahead, you need to be there by opening time, or face an impossibly slow queue.

The highlight of your visit to Cape Town may be the cableway to the Table Mountain. This is not your usual visit to a place somewhere high up with a nice view to a city and the sea. Table Mountain is unique; a huge rocky plateau on which you can walk for hours admiring the view to the city and, especially, the south. Sunset time is the best, and the magnificent southern view will make you want to explore the south: Cape Point and Good Hope.
To get to Table Mountain, if you have no car, it is much better to catch the Hop on Hop off bus and buy the tickets at their offices on Long Street. This will spare you at least one long queue, although Table Mountain is quite popular and you will have more queues on your way up and down. Do check its site, wind or maintenance can cancel the cableway trips.