Cape Town

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront

Ah, we finally reached Cape Town, a somewhat mythic city with great praises from guidebooks and travellers. What can I say except they are quite right. The city is nice and pleasant and the whole Cape Peninsula is full of great attractions; restaurants, bars, beaches, hikes, mountains, the ocean, extreme sports, an aquarium... it got is all.

In all my trips, I rarely thought of a place where I would like to buy a house or a condo. However, I would choose Cape Town to build myself a home and even several other places in South Africa. In fact, I wonder seriously if I would like to live there instead than in Québec (where I am from).

We are more than 12,000 km from Québec.

The Clock Tower.

A hotel with Signal Hill on the right and Lion's Head in the background.

The Table Mountains in the background. These small mountains offer numerous incredible hikes.

City Bowl (city centre)

The city centre (City Bowl) is located at the foot of the magnificent Table Mountains and is surrounded by the waters from the Atlantic Ocean.

The city centre seen from Signal Hill.

Hard to believe! There are only 2-3 minutes between these two photos. In May, it is the beginning of winter; it rains quite often and the weather can change quickly.

Since we are quite big fans of sushi, we were not able to resist the urge to eat in this sushi restaurant. The plates are turning on the counter and one can grab whatever he likes by himself.

View from the Castle of Good Hope.

The City Hall.

City Bowl - Castle of Good Hope

This castle, resembling a citadel, was built by the Dutch between 1666 and 1679. Nowadays, it is still used by the South African army.

The outer wall protecting the castle.

Table Mountains

View during a brief bright interval.

The sun shone quite often... except when we decided to hike on these mountains.

In the morning, it was sunny. When we reached the mountain, the weather had changed. We walked in the cloud for a few hours, and we had only a few bright intervals. We spent some time at the top but we eventually went down... Obviously, a few hours later the sun was shining again. Bad luck.

Going down using the cableway.

South Peninsula

Cape Town is located north of a small peninsula of about 40 km. All around the peninsula, there are some nice towns being part of the Cape Peninsula.

A nice restaurant name.

The town of Muizenberg and False Bay.

The town of Kalk Bay.

Chapman's Peak Drive

This road is spectacular because it winds its way on a cliff just above the ocean.

Can you see where the road is?

The road is carved into the cliff...

Not a bad place to live!

Atlantic Coast

A tourist attraction!

This man holds a piece of raw fish in his mouth and the seal reaches to get it... A nice trick.

Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope.

The Cape of Good Hope is a park that protects the southernmost tip of the peninsula. It is a very nice park despite a very peculiar tourist site.

Here is the weird place. Everybody takes a shot in front of the sign. It is the most south-western point of Africa. It seems to me that a lot of other sites could claim that title...

The old lighthouse at the top of the photo.

The new lighthouse.

A nice trail toward the most south-western point of Africa.