My first stop in my South African trip was Cape Town. Firstly, I had to fly to London Heathrow and then take a direct flight to Cape Town. I spent 12 hours flying and that is quite an achievement for me, given that I get bored in a plane after 30 minutes. I only had a day and a half to spend there, so I took the easy way and I booked two trips around the city. In the first one of them I was with an Italian couple who made me remember the name of a Spanish village: Puerto Urraco. The woman was wearing some kind of golden trousers which I cannot take out of my mind now... She was very interesting in buying a diamond, but her husband did not share her enthusiasm, if you know what I mean.
Cape Town, as it is easily understood by its name, stays in a... bay! Yeah, but around 30 kilometres from it, you find Cape of Good Hope (originally baptised Cape of Storms by Bartolomé Dias), which is an amazing place, where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet, as you can see in the picture. On your right, the Atlantic Ocean and on your left, the Indian Ocean. Some people claim to see two different colours in the water but I do not dare to go so far.Cape Town has an interesting history. It was first spotted by the Portuguese, who did not settle at all. Then, the Dutch established a port there and afterwards the British arrived. With so much European influences, one can feel that it has an European atmosphere and structure, nothing to do with the usual African cities.
It lays under Table Mountain, a huge rock 3 kilometres long, who seems to watch out the ocean. Unfortunately, the cable car to the summit was closed due to maintenance works and I could not admire the outstanding views of the city from that point. Close to Table Mountain, you find the Twelve Apostoles (see below), which make a beautiful contrast with the ocean. The Atlantic Ocean is quite cold at Cape Town and full of white sharks, so it is not the best place to swim.
But there are more interesting places around. We have the amazing plants in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garten, where the national flower of South Africa, King Protea, is kept (by the way, do we have national flowers in Spain?), the Castle of Cape Town, the Waterfront, the Island of Seals (which must be like a supermarket for white sharks), Simon's Town, False Bay, Constantia, Cliffton,...Even more, there is a penguin colony in Boulders and they are one of my favourite animals. Look how funny they look like in this picture.
Next chapter, Durban.
No comments:
Post a Comment