16th March 2008, Cape Town, South Africa
Sunday morning and we were to return to MSVG which had arrived in Cape Town at the Victoria and Alfred (yes Alfred not Albert) Water Front at 7.00am. S & P met us at 10.00am and kindly helped us transfer our bits and pieces to the ship. As well as our two small backpacks our chattels had been increased by Geoffrey a 1.50m carved wooden giraffe, about 15 bottles of assorted Stellenbosch and assorted cushion covers and presents for the kids and friends. By a streak of genius with a bit of local knowledge, even though we did not know at exactly which quay the ship was moored, S managed to go straight to the right gate and D to chat the gatekeeper to let us through. So, we arrived within 20m of MSVG but couldn't talk the final guy into letting us on the actual jetty - probably because the French navy were in port opposite and it was more than his job's worth. Also, it wasn't possible to get S & P back on the MSVG which they were rather looking forward to. So, after half an hour of legging the backpacks, wine boxes and Geoffrey etc. back to our cabin, it was approaching lunchtime.
In order to thank S & P for a fabulous time we suggested we had a final lunch on the Water Front and went to an excellent eatery called the Greek Fisherman. We didn't know it at the time, but later reading the collateral we learned that this restaurant had won an award for fine food the previous year. It was very good, as were all of our eating experiences in South Africa and, given the location right on the waterfront with fabulous views of Table Mountain, extremely reasonably priced. We lingered over our lunch for around an hour and a half.
After lunch, we were driven to the foot of the cable car so we could spend the afternoon atop Table Mountain (Tafelberg) and said our final goodbyes to Stewart and Pam. We may have been fortunate with our timing but we waited seconds to purchase tickets and got on the first cable car. As a neat innovation, the inside of the car rotates so during the journey up all punters get a full 360 degree panorama. There were a number of walking options on the plateau and since we were not institutionalised in a tour we decided to do our own things and walked around anti clockwise for a good hour or so. M was disappointed she didn't see the Dassies - small rodent like creatures that are actually related to elephants. We did, though, get some great pics in most directions. We finished our walk with a glass of wine before descending on the cable care around 4.30 when, surprisingly, there were more people ascending than we had seen when we went up a couple of hours earlier. We took a cab back to the V&A Water Front and watched a jazz band of old timers perform for half an hour or so before we scoured the shops. We then went back to MSVG.
In order to thank S & P for a fabulous time we suggested we had a final lunch on the Water Front and went to an excellent eatery called the Greek Fisherman. We didn't know it at the time, but later reading the collateral we learned that this restaurant had won an award for fine food the previous year. It was very good, as were all of our eating experiences in South Africa and, given the location right on the waterfront with fabulous views of Table Mountain, extremely reasonably priced. We lingered over our lunch for around an hour and a half.
After lunch, we were driven to the foot of the cable car so we could spend the afternoon atop Table Mountain (Tafelberg) and said our final goodbyes to Stewart and Pam. We may have been fortunate with our timing but we waited seconds to purchase tickets and got on the first cable car. As a neat innovation, the inside of the car rotates so during the journey up all punters get a full 360 degree panorama. There were a number of walking options on the plateau and since we were not institutionalised in a tour we decided to do our own things and walked around anti clockwise for a good hour or so. M was disappointed she didn't see the Dassies - small rodent like creatures that are actually related to elephants. We did, though, get some great pics in most directions. We finished our walk with a glass of wine before descending on the cable care around 4.30 when, surprisingly, there were more people ascending than we had seen when we went up a couple of hours earlier. We took a cab back to the V&A Water Front and watched a jazz band of old timers perform for half an hour or so before we scoured the shops. We then went back to MSVG.
