The stop in Cape Town is the end point of the East Africa cruise and the start of West Africa Cruise and as a result most passengers are disembarking and a whole new bunch are boarding. A similar thing happened in Mumbai which is where the East Afrca cruise started. On such change-over days there are usually no excursions organized by the cruise ship, but by popular demand one was organized for today. It was a quick tour of the city center, followed by a ride in the cable car to the top of Table Mountain followed by a drive along the beaches of Cape Town. As you can see in the photos below the weather gods smiled on us for this activity, with a beautiful orange sunrise followed by a warm day with bright blue sky. The cable car ride up and down Table Mountain was less delightful as there was a huge crowd at the mountain and the ride up had us queuing for 2 hours. But still the views from the top were worth the hassle.

Cape Town was to some extend a pleasant surprise. Like the previous two cities there were many grand colonial style buildings and modern highrise buildings but without the overlay of decay. The city was clean and looked well maintained.

The beaches are spectacular, bright white sand and blue water, lots of facilities like parks, pavillions, exercise equipment, and beach front parking. The housing in the beach suburbs was high quality but with extensive security arrangements. And all over the city there were gum trees (eucalytus trees). If one squinted just right, one could imaging being on Sydney's Northern Beaches.

A Note from Nina

On 9th December 1916, almost 110 years ago my grandfather sailed into Cape Town with the Australian Army on his way to England to fight in the first World War. He wrote back to my grandmother regarding that day.

"As the morning passed the fog gradually lifted. By jove dear it was a great site; first we could see the wharves, then parts of the city, then the very large buildings, denoting the business district, later the low hills, the locality of the best residences, then last but not least the mountain put in an appearance. Table Mountain looked glorious, it was a sight, which will take a long time to forget. My dear I wish you were with me to take in the grandeur of the scene."

Sadly he died a few days before the end of WWI.

For me today, I didn't have to wait for the fog to lift, it was bright and sunny and splendid from the on set, and the rock face of Table Mountain up close from the cable car just took my breath away.