Cape Crusaders – Cape Town

Cape Town lies on a peninsula of land which the Portuguese originally named the “Cape of Storms” in the 15th century, but subsequently changed it to the “Cabo da Boa Esperanca”, or the Cape of Good Hope, at their optimism of opening a trade route to the east. Bartolomeo Dias and Vasco da Gama were the first to succeed in traversing this treachorous stretch of sea, but it was the Dutch who established the port of Cape Town. Under the dramatic shadow of Table Mountain, it grew in importance as a last stopping point before the eastern destinations, and a staging point to await the favourable conditions to successfully pass by the south-western tip of Africa and beyond.

Although we did not welcome the fact, it was perhaps fitting therefore that our first day in Cape Town should greet us no more with the resplendent winter sunshine of the previous weeks, but rather a gusting, stormy morning, living up to its original name. From our accommodation on the steep foothills of windswept Table Mountain, we headed straight to the port and one of Cape Town’s most famous landmarks, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. We had booked to take a tour to Robben Island, the infamous long-term prison home of Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners during the dark years of Apartheid. When we arrived, there was a crowd of people queueing to rearrange their tours as all boats had been cancelled due to the rough seas. We had no choice but to follow their example, and rebooked for the following day.

We quickly changed our plans therefore, and decided to stick to terra firma and explore the Cape by car, heading just south of Cape Town to Simon’s Bay, where once the British had established their colonial naval base. The area retains much of its colonial buildings and is a pleasant drive despite retaining much of the British weather also. We continued to Fishhoek which was recommended to us by a Swiss fan at our last World Cup game in Bloemfontein. Fishhoek has a little port with a number of restaurants near the Harbour House. We ran from the car and got soaked in the process, but regained our spirits over generous portions of battered hake, calamari, prawns and chips, helped down by a couple of bottles of dry cider – delicious!

We sheltered for a while more, hoping for some better weather to blow in, but to no avail. Nonetheless, we continued further along the coast to Boulder Beach, which is renowned for its penguin colony. Of all the colonies in Africa, the penguins are undoubtedly the most peaceful, but even they were put off by the bad weather, sheltering and shivering in the bushes along the beach. They’re really cute, and we found it hard to resist the temptation to reach out and bring a few home with us in the car.

We drove on further south, along winding coastal roads, alternating between long sandy beaches, and steep cliffs plunging down into the waves crashing against their rocky feet. All along the road there are signs warning people not to feed the baboons, as they can become aggressive, but they appeared anything but as they strolled across the streets in the sleepy seaside villages. We decided not to enter to drive to the tip of Cape Point as it was 75R each to enter, and it was such a bad day we were only going to watch from the car anyway, but as a result we missed out on some famous photo shots at the Cape Point. Instead we rounded the Cape and drove north back to Cape Town along a spectacular mountain pass called Chapman’s Peak which hugged the side of the cliffs around Hout’s Bay. We also passed through Camps Bay and Clifton, Cape Town’s chic suburbs which lies on the southern side of Table Mountain, and took a quick drive past the new stadium to which we were returning later that night for the round of 16 match between Spain and Portugal. Each of the suburbs were more beautiful than the previous, and all within a short drive to the big city of Cape Town. In fact, despite being a big city, Cape Town itself has a permanent feel of spaciousness and a relaxed pace, which make you feel immediately at home, and made us want to put down our backpacks and settle down for a much longer stay.

As far as the World Cup was concerned, Cape Town was rewriting the rulebook as well. Between the FanFest and the stadium, they had drawn a 2.5km Fan Walk which would guide supporters to the stadium, with various local entertainers lining the route. The atmosphere was great with drummers, facepainters, singers and dancers all along the way. It also gave us a chance to see some of the crazy costumes that some of the supporters wear; a group of English fans (wrong match!) won our vote with their zebra suits and fez hats, although we also liked the Spanish fans with their banner “There’s only one Ronaldo, and he’s Brazilian!”

The match itself turned out to be a fairly one-sided affair with Spain dominating possession (as is their habit) and Portugal failing to provide any real clear-cut chances. So next stop for Spain is Johannesburg against Paraguay, but although we have tickets, we won’t be following them the 1,500km there. Yes, Cape Town is a much bigger attraction than a World Cup quarter-final, and that just about says it all. As a result, we’ll take the coastal route all the way from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape and we’ll rejoin the winners of the quarter-final in the port city of Durban for the semi-final. The stakes are getting higher in the competition, and its continuing to be a fantastic tournament!

More news on Cape Town and the Western Cape in our next post. Ayoba!