I flew in to Cape Town on Friday morning, I flew out again on Sunday morning. My time there was very short but oh so sweet! Here is how I made the most of 48 hours. Is there more I would love to have done, of course! Is there more I could have done, maybe? Would I have done it differently, not at all.
48 Hours in Cape Town
The views of Cape Town from flying in, were incredible! There was a taxi booked from the airport to our hostel which made things nice and easy, driving past townships and in to the city this place felt much bigger than Port Elizabeth. We stayed at Long Street Backpackers on recommendation from fellow volunteers. It was just over £10 a night for a 6 bed dorm which was sectioned in to two parts, we were in the 4 bed side. It had a friendly atmosphere, great outdoor communal area, a secure coded gate and our room had a balcony overlooking long street, awesome.
Robben Island
We had booked a ticket to Robben Island a week or 2 before so after meeting the rest of the group that had taken the overnight bus we heading to the boat. We paid around £20 for a ticket which included a guided bus tour of the island with talks from ex-prisoners. I hadn’t read up much about the place, but I found that didn’t matter as the guide was full of information and you were given plenty of time to stop and explore each area of the island. The talk from the ex-prisoner took place in where he used to live, showing examples of how they used to live, it all sounded horrific. Despite that I still came away feeling like I had learnt a lot.
The Market
I was told the Cape Town market was the best, so spent the afternoon trawling around the stores, gripping my bag extra tight for fear of something being stolen – I had heard one too many horror stories. I purchased some necklaces and t-shirts as presents.
Long Street Night Life
After I met with the group and we had dinner together it was time to head back to the hostel for our first night out on Long Street. We were hoping it would live up to our J-Bay party night. We had found several decent bars to start with all with happy hour prices, but after we entered a place called Stones the night when downhill. The group got split up and when we got back to the hostel in the early hours of the morning we learnt one of the group had, had her camera stolen – that was when we found out Stones was a bad place to go and known for that type of thing.
Breakfast at a cute cafe
The next morning we were up early for breakfast at a café not far from us, I have to say it was one of the best breakfast ever and theplace was pretty cool with graffiti covered walls.
Climb Table Mountain
We knew we wanted to climb Table Mountain but there was a huge cloud over it, this was very common and normally burnt away with the sunshine. But we didn’t have time to wait for that so we took the gamble and headed for the mountain despite the cloud. I really wanted to just take the cable car up, but the boys wouldn’t let me and I’m grateful for that. The views as we climbed were incredible and the achievement I felt when I reached the top was like nothing else, even though I couldn’t feel my feet. You could see for miles, no words can describe how amazing it was being up there. The climb took around 2 hours and in that time the cloud lifted completely, just a shame they had already closed the abseil for that day as I really wanted to do that!
Camps Bay Sunset
Table Mountain complete the boys let me take the cable car down and we headed for Camps Bay on recommendation of a lush beach and amazing sunset. This is exactly what we got, joining the rest of the group and chilling on the beach all afternoon and evening until the sun went down. The view was something else, the Lions Head in one direction the back of Table Mountain in another I felt like I was dreaming. I’d never been somewhere with views like this before. Apart from having to get rid of street sellers we were left alone and felt pretty safe on the beach, thank goodness after last night. After sunset we heading for dinner at a place the girls had booked earlier on, it was a fantastic meal and a pretty cheap price.
Mama Africa
Back in Long Street and ready for our final night in Cape Town, we decided to stay away from Stones and headed to Mama Africa right opposite the hostel. Our night out was short; everyone was tired or wanted to save money. So we all ended up on our balcony overlooking Long Street wasting the night away.
Cape Town was one of my first solo travel experiences but I have nothing but fond memories of the city despite not quite doing everything right…
PIN FOR LATER!
