Can even just put in this into Uber and they will take you as close as they can get – the parking lot outside. It is convenient near the V&A Waterfront.
When: Saturdays and Sundays: 9am – 2pm. (3pm on a Sunday)
This is lovely thing to do on the weekends, it is quaint little markets just outside the V&A waterfront. It has some artisan little stores with bags, clothes, sauces, a few trinkets. The major focus of this market is the food. If you walk through based the fish monger, butchers, cake shops, bakery and sauces, you come to a wide space straw covered floor.
This is a fruit and veg market – all done on the number of things or the weight that you buy – cheaper than your local supermarket! It is awesome, it is teeming with people who can help you, traditional wicker baskets to collect all your food, before going to the weigh station.
Beyond this there is a compact little space with food stalls – flatbreads, sandwiches, juices, crepes, spring rolls – so much food. I warn you if you go later in the day it is likely everything will be sold from the fruit to the food in the stalls. The downside to this is that it is busier.
I went when it was a hour or so before it ended and it was still amazing. So much stuff there regardless, the choice was limited as to what was available still. The brownies are incredible and the brie and bacon sandwich from Brie on Bree Street just perfect! The next time I went I had a smoothie with a cheeseburger – so filling! Followed by brownie again – what can I say.. I’m an addict.
Okay….so history nerd is going to come out here so please bear with me.
Location; Corner of Adderly and Wale Street, CBD.
Opening hours: 9-5 every day (except Sundays: closed)
Entry: R30.
So. The title of this blog kind of what this building used to be. It was where the Dutch East India Company used to keep their slaves before deporting them. As with many of these lodges the conditions were next to awful to say the least! After its horrible beginning this building became a court house as well. Ironic I think.
So you walk into an open space with 5 walls with the overarching explanation of slavery in the Cape. It also interestingly goes into the modern day international equivalents.
You start on left side, with a film that goes through the basic history, the room next door discussing the archaeology of the building: what they found and as a result what they were able to deduce from this.
As you move through, you find the drawings and etchings to Brookes Ship and other slave ships, the conditions. Even this mock up (see above) of the ships itself – this is not to scale. Various documents are featured throughout explaining how slaves were treated and what the conditions were on the ships. Ships logs and reports are just one way of explaining the situation that occurred on these ships.
As you walk through you follow the story of these slaves, the different places they went to, and/or came from. The exhibitions are spacious and easily laid out to understand everything. It is a nice place to meander through and read as much or as little as you would like.
The image above was one that was poignant to me, these are the name of those slaves that died that we know the name of. There of course millions more, thrown from boats, never named, disappeared, and many more reasons. To see their names and the diversity of their names jut proves how many countries were involved in this part of history. Named after the months they were sold, or they arrived, surnames of their first masters, who knows where some of the names came from.
The image above is a calendar. They found people with the surnames of each month, and brought them together. Something amazing has happened to these people they are proud of their surname, that their ancestors have been such a large part of history. They see themselves as the reminders of what has been and therefore what shouldn’t be repeated. Such an extraordinary exhibit.
As you move through the different rooms. You get to see cases of other artefacts that have landed in Cape Town, from all of over the world. Demonstrating the reach of this port and the number of people that used to come through this “rest” and refuel station.
This demonstrates the space the Slave loge used to occupy and an old plan of the lodge itself.
After doing the downstairs, you are best moving upstairs where there are temporary exhibition spaces. At the moment, they have one of ancient Egyptians and another for apartheid music alongside their permanent spaces for the collection of silver – most from the colonial period. Surprise surprise.
The music during the Apartheid exhibition caught my eye and therefore I m going to focus on this, rather than do a little on all of them. I hope you don’t mind.
Apartheid… now to me the first thing I think of is not music. Apparently I am wrong in this assumption – who knew.
Music was a massive way of rebellion in South Africa, throughout this exhibition they display songs and the ways that audible media helped to fight Apartheid. The headphones are great way to connecting with the voices of the part. Older generation radios play a playlist of old songs and rebellious songs.
As I turned the corner out of the singing for freedom exhibition, I am faced with this wall of record slips. I follow the flow to the opening and as I walk through to come to a piano. It conjured all sorts of thoughts and feelings at the time. It is quite surprising and yet so well placed.
This museum on the whole is one of my highlights. It goes through history of the Cape from Slavery on 19th century to modern discrimination. The interactivity of this museum helps you to learn on your own terms, how works best for you. Not just reading pages and pages of text which is not to everyone tastes.
This Cathedral is beautiful inside and out. Short and sweet this one, Cathedrals explain themselves…
The outside is a different stone that used elsewhere in Cape Town, it sticks out and yet with being surrounded by trees it settles perfectly into the background.
Located on Wale St, opposite St Georges Mall, it is a hard place to miss.
The stained glass shines lights on the stone floor, the colours are vibrant. The pictures can not to this place of peace justice. I love how quiet it is. There was no one there. Other than a few maintenance individuals or caretakers it was empty. So I lit a candle and just enjoy the silence and ambience.
It is definitely a worthwhile stop in Cape Town – even has a a restaurant/bar called the Crypt underneath it. With live Jazz it is one of the more popular places to visit on an evening. Although i haven’t been – I have heard stories from locals.
To show tourists the cultural life of Cape Town, the life blood = jazz.
What an incredible evening.
South African wine, food and music what could be a better evening..
I would seriously recommend people stopping by and checking it out 110 Loop Street.
We got to listen to some amazing music and just chill, be in the moment. Nothing needs to be said. This man has a talent for spotting talent in people.
He pulled the famous next to the amateur. Live band with solo acapellas, poetry and ballads! Just fantastic. Perfect showcase of young talent in Cape Town, and opportunities for tourists and locals to see it alongside one another.
This past week has been spent with Cathy and Avie making breakfast every morning.
Putting everything out so that the guests have their buffet. This consists of cereals, croissants (chocolate and plain), cut fruit, bread and toaster, hard boiled eggs, coffee, tea, banana bread, tomatoes, cheese and cucumber.
I know it is quite a spread. We have to make the coffee and make sure everything is kept topped up through out the morning. It is an early start with a 6am alarm being set and needing to be working by 6:30am.
Lots of coffee and munching happens through out the morning, catching the moments between questions and topping everything up. It is a great opportunity to talk to guests a little, and get to know their names – makes things a little easier when you see them around the hostel during the day. Crossing the names off and chatting to people is the best part of it.
Cathy, Avie and the other interns make it so much fun, it is light hearted. Even when the 9:45 rush happens. When you think that coffee or juice will last – let me tell you. You are wrong. You will need to top that up without a doubt.
After everyone has finished, you then have to clear everything away, make sure all tables are clean. Plates, mugs and glasses collected from those who haven’t bought them in. The fridges need to be stocked for the next day, and everything put away in its proper place.
It is a long morning, 6:30 until at least 11 but make easier but the pleasurable company of guests, interns and staff alike. A productive morning and yet leaves the rest of the afternoon to explore and experience the city!
This green space in the centre of Cape Town has a long history going back to the Dutch settlers – it has museums and historic buildings down on side of it.
It has a growers garden where the VOC /Dutch East India company planted their fruit and veg for replenishing their ships.
It is a shady and sunny spot for walking through on a nice afternoon or morning. People lounging around a lot as well. It is a very relaxed atmosphere. Such a lovely space to be in.
On a Sunday, down Paddock Avenue, just in the gardens there is a small local market. Jewellery and second hand books seem to dominate this particular market. If you were looking for something more unique as a souvenir or gift for someone. I would head here.
There are coffee and juice bars, ice cream and a whole range of foods. But what sets this market apart is that they have live music from a local artist and a kids inflatable play ground. So many people with their picnics -topping it up with things from the market, just sat on the benches or just on the grass, enjoying the atmosphere.
It is a lovely place to spend a Sunday afternoon, sat in the shade reading a book with some local food and drinks – decently priced as well.
I would recommend company’s garden to anyone, any day. There is so much space to explore. It is tranquil haven in the middle of the bustling city.
I feel like this should be multiple posts. It is such an incredible day and I would recommend it to everyone. For reference I travelled with DayTrippers. Our guide was Pedro St Clair, a Capetonian.
Day starts at 8 am with a pick up from the hostel, mini bus and clients collected we are good to set off. There was only 4 of us on this tour which made the tour even better as we could really get to know one another.
Our first stop was Hout Bay, R80 would have taken us on a glass bottomed boat out to Seal Island. The sea was too rough this morning to be able to do it. But we did not not see them, they were all over the Bay. Some even joined us on land. You can pay to have a photo with one of them, but doesn’t seem natural to do that for me but we saw other doing it. This is a short stop without the boat trip but not wasted – good place for a coffee top up and walk around.
Moving on. There is a little stop place with bathrooms along Chapmans Peak – a real feat of engineering. Beautiful views back to Hout Bay. It is a road cut into the rock, into the mountain. Built on top of granite but into sandstone – the colours are phenomenal. A stunning drive even by itself. Or cycle if your brave enough…
We soon made it to the Cape point nature reserve, here we donned the helmets and grab the bikes off the trailer and set off. It is a lovely, mostly self guided bike ride, with the guide meeting you at the major turns as well as letting you know the route a head of time. First left, then left again and then right – hard to to get it wrong right… It was all tarmaced, we did the extended route about 12kms, rolling up and own mini hills. Good bikes with decent sets of gears which made things easier. Other than one of the pedals coming off one of the bikes, we made it to the lunch stop. Well deserved.
Lunch was a spread not to be believed! It was fantastic, so much choice from salad to pasta to artisan bread, meats, cheeses and biscuits. Not to mention fruit that was then available all afternoon. A good filling lunch.
We headed to a small beach for a walk – the water is cold, and a rest after lunch, watching the Ostriches walk along the beach too, before we headed to the base of our hike. It is a good 40 min uphill hike to the lighthouse with awesome views of both sides of the continent. You can walk all the way to the end of Cape Point, it is all paved or gravelled, and relatively flat. Just depends on your time. There is a funicular for those that can not walk that far. At the base there is a shop and a restaurant for before or after.
After returning to the base we headed out for the second hike an hour walk along boarded walks, mixed with rocky outcrops. It is a flat walk, one thing about both of these is neither are well shaded, so make sure you have sunscreen, hat and plenty of water. On the walk to the Cape of Good Hope, there is a beach, Dias Beach, however the steps down to it looked too steep for us to risk it.
The end of the walk is a little scrambling – just a bit of a rocky climb to the view points, and the same back down to the parking lot The view from the top is amazing though. All blue for as far as the eye can see. You are at the end of the continent – where the two oceans meet!
After the climb down and all the necessary photos have been taken – don’t forget – selfie or it didn’t happen! We headed to Simon’s Town and the famous African Penguin.
If you walk onto the little beach by the parking lot and all along the board walk , you can see the Penguins. You can pay extra to go into the nature reserve to be able to get closer to the penguins. The penguins are everywhere you will see them without paying if you so wish. I should say Simon’s Town is accessible by train from Cape Town should you want to go down without a tour, it is a lovely little Victorian town with many shops and restaurants as well as the famous penguins.
Upon finishing with the penguins we headed back to Cape Town. This day trip is just fantastic! It is a busy and tiring day, but you only appreciate that upon returning and looking at the time! The day just flies, and disappears. You will take hundreds of photos have many laughs and lots of fun. Highly recommend!
It is in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. It is roughly a R300 Uber to get there, so try and share with other people. You do drive through the township so you can see how the locals live, it is a stark difference to the city as you can imagine. The basic housing and the children running around in the street. I did start to wonder where I was going.
You arrive you are greeted by music. You enter through the back, a quick bag check and security pat down, and you walk into benches and hoards of people. The bar is at the back, an easy queue system, you can buy one beer or a bucket of 6 for R150. Bargain right… there is also a bottle service. You buy a bottle of spirits and our mixers and mix it yourself – worthwhile really makes it easy with friends too.
R100 will buy you Braai! If you don’t know what this is, read my Braai blog. I love it. It was an entire basket of meat and sides. Polenta in a consistency you can use your fingers with. Just incredible and the meat is good. Chicken wings, sausage and steaks. Yummy.
Then the party really gets started, dancing all around, more people come in. The vibes are awesome, all chilled and everyone hanging out. I really enjoyed myself. International and local music all being mixed together. Dances being taught and exchange of cultures. It was clearly the place to be on a Sunday night – although I get the impression these guys don’t need an excuse to party. This place seemed to fill with local people more so than people from the city. I would recommend taking someone from Cape Town with you, or at least someone who knows the restaurant, it is a very different place it is nice to have a local with you as a support.
The party goes way into the night, so relax and enjoy travellers. This one is on me. 🙂
I have a perfectly ordinary lunch, this place deserves a mention!
located: Lower Main Rd, Observatory, Cape Town, 7935
They have drinks and food galore here, so much choice it was hard to choose what to have. Drinks wise they offer alcoholic and non alcoholic including cocktails of both kinds. I had a strawberry and apple crush which was perfect, refreshing, cold and plenty of it. Served in a glass jam jar type container. R35 approx.
Food wise, they have pasta, pizza, wrap, sandwiches, salads, bowl meals, burgers. Everything lighter meals to the heavier. I had a burger, pulled pork to be exact, Approx R60. It was what I would call an ‘oh bugger’ sandwich. As soon as i cut into it, everything came out the other side. Once I managed to eat some it was incredible. Perfect balance between coleslaw and pulled pork. The chips alongside were crispy with mayonnaise served on the side automatically. Despite being mid conversation we managed to eat it all.
Delicious! So good. It might be outside the city centre but if you are heading this side or even live this side of town, worth take a visit. The courtyard at on the entrance it a lovely place to sit, chew the fat, enjoy food and drinks. The staff are helpful, attentive but not smothering.
Perfect location for a catch up with friends or a business lunch.
It was all tarmaced, we did the extended route about 12kms, rolling up and own mini hills. Good bikes with decent sets of gears which made things easier. Other than one of the pedals coming off one of the bikes, we made it to the lunch stop. Well deserved.
Helpful Haz 