Cape Town (16-30 December 2022)

Hubby and I never tire of visiting the beautiful city of Cape Town. We have travelled here many a times either for work or leisure. In April 2018, I travelled with my brother and cousin, and saw and experienced Cape Town through their eyes. This was a memorable trip. We stayed at the newly revamped Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Waterfront Breakwater Lodge.

Then hubby and I decided to do a road trip again in 2022 (our second road trip), but with a friend. We were fortunate in that he was going to drive us all the way there. We were going to do a 1 night stopover in Colesberg, then a 9 night stay in Cape Town, and finally a 2 night stay in Riebeeck Kasteel. The hubby and I always travel together, and there was some apprehensions about travelling with a friend. But as you will read on, the trip proved to be most memorable.

View from apartment

 

will miss the sunset

As is with a long road trip, our baggage was going to include a lot of padkos, and spices for our anticipated cookout dinners (which never materialised as we ate out most of the times). We arose early (around 2am) on the day of our departure, as we wanted to beat the holiday traffic. We left our homes at 4am. I remember it was a misty and slightly warm morning. We stopped for a cuppa and a leg-break along the way. It was so exciting to see fellow travellers at our stops heading off to who knows where. One could feel the holiday spirit. We arrived in Bloemfontein just before 10am, and had breakfast at the Mimosa Mall. We decided to stop by the impressive Gariep Dam on our way to Colesberg. We stayed at Brand Gastehuis, as well as on our return trip back home, and it was good value for money. Colesberg is a quaint one street town with a beautiful church at its epicentre. The town was buzzing with travellers, but on our return trip on the 28th this was not so evident. We had supper at Inni Kraal where the food was super delicious.

We arose early again for our departure from Colesberg to Cape Town. We had to scrummage around for our stuff in the dark, as there was loadshedding happening in Colesberg at this time. We stopped over for breakfast in Beaufort West at a place called Donkin Deli. The drive to Cape Town was amazing, the stunning views, the wide open spaces and low hanging clouds, and the mountainous areas were just so breathtaking. We live in such a beautiful country!

We arrived to a sunny but not hot Cape Town. The apartment we stayed in (1204 Quayside Suites)  was clean and spacious and had stunning views of Table Mountain, especially at sunset. We were very fortunate in that our friend did not enjoy sitting around in the apartment. He was familiar with Cape Town and surrounds, having travelled there numerous times. He drove us to Bloubergstrand, Franschoek, Stellenbosch, and Hermanus (which was very arty but not vibey). We stopped by at Hout Bay, visited Muizenberg, with its colourful beach huts and beautiful beaches, and drove past Camps Bay, Clifton Beach and Kalk Bay. We also drove to Signal Hill to watch the sunset and stunning views of Cape Town at night. The only problem was that our visit occurred during peak season and the traffic up the narrow road leading to the hill was horrendous. Try doing a 3 point turn on this hill with your 4by4 😧. Luckily we parked towards the bottom of the hill. On our return back to the apartment we drove past the stunning Christmas lights display along Adderley Street. We also did lots of walking around the V & A Waterfront and Sea Point area as well as Long and Short Street, the area around St Georges Cathedral, as well as the beautiful Company Gardens.  We also visited Bo Kaap and the Woodstock Brewery.

beautiful views

the iconic V & A

stunning Christmas decor at the V& A

Bo Kaap

those beautiful Cape Dutch houses (Franschoek)

and gardens (Franschoek)

Hermanus looked different 

somewhere in Hermanus

Die Strandloper

Red Tin Roof garden

Paternoster

Noisy Oyster

We ate at these restaurants: 

Blowfish in Bloubergstrand (setting was beautiful with view of windsurfers, but food wasn't) 

Eastern Food Bazaar (in Cape Town, portions were huge and the place was always very busy)

Tokara Delicatessen (in Stellenbosch, breakfast was pricey but bacon and eggs were not up to standard)

La Grapperia (along the Spice Route in Paarl, we had a late lunch and there were some very drunk revellers in the next table)

Kloof Street House (in Cape Town, venue was vibey and ambience was top notch, food wasn't though, but if you want to see good looking and and well-dressed folk, then this is the place to be) 

Liquorice and Lime (in Cape Town, I had the stuffed croissant which was ordinarily tasting)

Java Bistro (Stellenbosch)

We made last minute reservations for Christmas lunch at La Parada (on Bree Street). When we arrived at the restaurant we switched from the Christmas to the a la carte menu. The aioli sauce and churros were delicious.

We left for Langebaan on the 26th. We did lunch at Die Strandloper. The baked bread was delicious so was the snoek. We drove to Riebeeck Kasteel and stayed at the Red Tin Roof. This manor house  is beautifully decorated and has a stunning garden. Because it is an old house it needs some repair. make sure you wear insect repellant as there's lots of mozzies here. Riebeeck Kasteel is a quiet little laid-back town. We spent 2 nights here, wish we had more time to explore. Breakfast was very good. From Riebeeck Kasteel we drove out to Paternoster with its white houses and sandy beaches. Paternoster is a bit overrated, maybe if we had more time to explore, we would have enjoyed it more. We had lunch at the Noisy Oyster. We had supper at La Parilla (tasty food and served with big portions).

Alas, our holiday was soon coming to an end. The last 3 remaining days of our trip went by so quickly, and we were in a different town on each of those days. We left Riebeeck Kasteel for Colesberg. We had lunch at Karushi in Beaufort West. We were disappointed as service was severely lacking here.  Colesberg was lacking that vibe that we initially experienced when we arrived here on the 16th. We had lunch at Allards Bistro and Pizzeria.  Don't be put off by the rustic nature of this eating house as the food was good. From Colesberg we drove to Clarens and stayed at the Protea Hotel. The views to and from Clarens were simply stunning with those majestic mountains and greenery. We ate at The Square and Brew Pub. Wish we had more time to explore the back streets of Clarens. 

Our trip amounted to about R14 100 pp for hubby and I (that included meals and accommodation). We would like to wholeheartedly thank our friend for offering to drive us to all the beautiful places in Cape Town, as well as introduce us to some mouth smacking good meals.