We woke up to rain this morning. First day of rain on this trip so far… certainly can’t complain. After all we believe there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing! Having said that, today was the day for us to explore Table Mountain, a mountain that overlooks Cape Town. Right now it is somewhere high up in the clouds! Oh well…there’s lots more to do and see in this fair city!

After a hearty breakfast, we met our driver Debbie. She was smiling, but you could tell she was worried about the weather… we told her we’re pretty flexible, and so we set out.

The first stop was the top of Signal Hill. We knew this wasn’t going to go well when we hadn’t climbed 100m in elevation before the fog /clouds consumed our car. At the top, we were lucky to see our hands!!

Down we went to explore the city. We all believed that the day would clear and we would be able to get some vistas from somewhere. In the meantime, we headed into the city to an area called Bo Kaap. This area is known for its colourful houses. These houses were once the residences of slaves and they had to be white to match their owners estates. However, once they were freed and were able to buy their home, they had a revolution with colour.

From there we headed across the downtown and saw the “castle”, and the city hall.

From the City Hall buildings Debbie decided to take us to her favourite coffee shop in town called “Truth Coffee”. Here they not only make you your coffee, they have three different custom blends to choose from (described like one would describe wine) They even roast their own beans on site!

After coffees we went to the Diamond Works, where we learned about the various qualities of diamonds as well as seeing the craftsmen polishing facets on the diamonds. All very fascinating, and some pretty spectacular pieces! The sparkling wine given to us as we entered was a lovely perk as well…

From here we went to the V and A waterfront, where you find anything from pubs and restaurants to shopping malls to boat cruises to the harbour and beyond and even some commercial watercraft.

We soon wrapped up our walk about at the V and A waterfront and headed off to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. What a site! Located on the side of the mountain these gardens are extensive including a tree top walk. It is late fall here, so the blossoms are quite limited, but we did see some very interesting things.

The scenery was spectacular and the walk up and down the hillside to views the various gardens was not only beautiful, but a good workout as well!

We ended up having lunch in the restaurant located on the grounds, and then headed off to explore the castle as Table Mountain was still closed.

This fort was a pentagon in shape, took 13 years to build and housed both the governor and his second in command in lavish apartments within the grounds. The governor had a dining room that could seat 100 people!

Once we finished touring this property we headed back to our hotel via Signal hill. We would at least try to get some views of Cape Town from above, even though it wasn’t the highest lookout point. Success!!!

We soon headed down the mountain towards our hotel. It had been a full day and we were ready to settle down for an hour or so before dinner.

Back in our hotel, after a good rest, we headed out for our last night on the town in Cape Town. tonight we tried the Zenzero Restaurant with wood fired oven specialties. Dan had been craving pizza, and I had a spicy Buccatini Carbonara; both were delish!

After a delicious meal we Ubered back to our hotel. Tomorrow we would be leaving this haven we have so enjoyed for the past 3 days. If you are ever coming to Cape Town, we can’t recommend the Ocean View House enough. The staff, the service, the facilities and the food were incredible! We will be so sorry to leave!

Tomorrow we head into wine country, situated just outside of Cape Town. Our destination for the next couple of nights will be Franschhoek. until then, we wish you a great rest of your day! Chat to you tomorrow!