Of course, the tour was a bit different. It wasn't a half-day tour in a mini-bus as one person in a group of probably 10. It was a private tour for the three of us. Granted, it wasn't super expensive, but that added bit of luxury was certainly worth it, mostly because of how good our guide, Jean, a Congolese man who moved to South Africa two decades ago and seemed to be a star in the guide game, was. He was incredible, he took his time, he showed us all the sights, gave us all the history, and it was a full day well done.
The tour started at 8:45am with a pickup and initial drive away from Green Point, around Signal Hill and then down towards Sea Point, past rows and rows of beautiful, expensive beach-side houses, as we left Cape Town proper and headed down the many, many incredible towns and views and the rest. The first spots were Camps Bay (where my hike ended yesterday) and the first of many pit stops to take photos. It is as hard to describe the beauty of the sightlines and photo spots on this tour. I'm no better at doing it now as I was in 2013 - but it just the combination of perfect cliffs on one side, sandy beaches and blue water on the other side, that is so rare and so exceptional.
What this tour did really well, and again all credit to our guide, was have us see everything. From driving through various towns and going through their Dutch and British histories, to forcing stops, let alone obliging our requests for stops. The first main stop of the drive was Hout Bay where we caught a 45-min out and back ferry tour that goes by a small set of rocks with roughly 500 seals either on them, adorably hopping off them or spalshing around having a grand old time in the water. It was an excellent little side journey (not included in the main tour) and before we knew it we were off on our way on the Chapman's Peak drive, a 9-km long stretch of highway cut out of the cliffs 100 years ago, in great condition with about roughly 50 incredible photo spots, including the first bit that had a great view of Hout Bay and the mountains behind it. Again, just stunning stuff.
The other side of Chapman's Peak had a stop to see Long Beach, an 8-km stretch of beach known for horseriding, and then our trip across the peninsula from the West Coast (Atlantic Ocean) to the East side (False Bay). We stopped in Noordhoek on the way, to a great little food & arts collective area that could have so easily been in California Wine Country or something. It is these types of places we just didn't stop in the first time I did this tour that were so illuminating this time around. They had a great coffee shop and a nice little boutique grocery - a really perfect stop given the fact the V&A Food Market has closed to be renovated into a Time Out Market that will open late 2023.
From Noordhoek, we drove to Simon's Town which had a nice lunch stop at Bertha's a bay-side restaurant with truly great, fresh seafood, and then had of course the Simon's Town African Penguin colony. On food first, we split a bunch of small plates, from greatly fresh mussels, to grilled calamari in a great thyme-based sauce, to a well grilled linefish and a mussel & fish choweder. All were good, the setting was great. I'm sure this place gets a lot of business from being the standard lunch stop on these day tours (as expected, we saw a lot of the same people at each stop, even as good as our guide was there is more or less a set itinerary beign followed). But really, the food was far better than a tourist trap lunch tour spot would indicate.
The Penguins, man, were just amazing. I forgot how big they are, clearly bigger than the ones in Patagonia, though similar looking. There were a bunch, some lazing on their tummies, some mothers guarding and protecting eggs, a few just lollygagging left and right. A few of the mothers had newborn baby penguins they were protecting, with the babies poking their adorable fluffy faces out every now and then. They also had some juvenile penguins with still some gray fur. It was all overwhelming in its adorableness.
From Simon's Town, we headed to what is in theory the namesake spot of the tour, into the Cape
Point Nature Reserve, with Cape Point at the very tip. Having gone to Patagonia since my prior tour of the Peninsula, the scenery with the shrubbery, the wide open landscape, the great crashing waves on the sides, the sweeping cliffs, it was all so brilliant. In our time in the park we came across roughly 10 ostriches, some from afar and then a few that nicely came roadside and posed for pictures. We saw some Eland as well, which was nice given we hadn't seen either animal in Botswana. I am a bit surprsied these animals aren't in greater number in teh park since there's no natural predator there, but it did make their presence more enjoyable.
Cape Point itself is stunning. You can clearly see to the False Bay side that there are cliffs in teh distance extending more South than Cape Point, but still you get a sense of being at the tip of a Continent. The water in all directions, the same water I essentially walk or drive past each day in Hoboken. The steep cliffs that are undescribable. The vantage points of the peninsula behind you. It is all so well preserved and presented.
From Cape Point, we went to the Cape of Good Hope, which is about 2km away and at sea level which gave a whole new vantage point for everything, and was our last true tourism bit before the drive back, or so one would think. On the drive back, the driver took a more circuotous route to give us one last brilliant view, which was Cape Town from teh Constantia side, basically approaching the city and Table Mountain from the Southeast, with a panoramo view of the wine regions, Constantia, Table Mountain, Lion's Head and everything else. Just beautiful.
We finally arrived back to our AirBNB at 7:45, eleven hours so well spent. We quickly freshened up and headed to The Pot Luck Club for dinner - maybe the dinner I was looking forward to more than any other. I've been here twice, but either by myself or with one person. With a group of three, you can order 8-10 dishes and effectively create your own tasting menu with their incredibly creative, detailed and plated tapa-style dishes.
A few highlights were a Cape Malay Cauliflower with an incredibly rich sambal sauce, and pomegranates for a little crunch, a perfectly cooked lamb in a great broth, a perfectly lightly seared tuna in another gerat sauce, and even a dish like a smoked beet carpaccio (the veg version of their beef tartare). The Pot Luck Club is truly a great place. I think maybe 2-3 of their dishes are holdovers from prior visits. It was also great to enjoy the place with my parents, but far better was watching them enjoy Cause Effect in more style.
We got to Cause Effect around 11pm, being three of maybe 20 people in the place. They maybe weren't fans of the music but they, specifically my Dad, were as entranced by the mixologists, the ingredients the creativity of it all as I was on my first visit in 2020. The place has many new drinks now and the best part is just how much everyone loves waht's going on, to the other patrons all as entranced as we were, to the mixologists themselves who clearly just love their jobs. My dad ordered a whikey cocktail which was very good but he was sadenned the final presentation was a bit staid, so he requested some pizzazz which the mixologist took back and re-served on a bed of liquid nitrogenized flowers. The place is about as consistent an offering as it comes.
From there I dropped my parents off and then hit up first Long Street, which continues to be busy and "fun" in that sense, but a place I admittedly think I've outgrown, and then Modular, which is a place I have definitely not outgrown. It was full at 1am when I arrived and more full at 2:30 when I left. They've expanded a bit, taking over the bar next door and turning that into a second club called Bar Lido (the bartenders still have Modular shirts on), and I think I'll check that place out a bit more tomorrow night. I got back to the AirBNB aroudn 3am, fully content from a full day. In theory i've done nearly everything I did today before, and that didn't matter one bit.
