Landing in our home-to-be for the first time was exhilerating. Coming in, the pilot did a grand sweep of the city, showing off famous Table Mountain and the stunning City Bowl. Also, one could not help but notice the many impoverished areas which seem to infest the gated communities of mansions and estate homes - or is it the other way round? Called townships or settlements, these small wooden and tin shacks seem to stretch on for miles into the distance. The incomprehensible inequality is even more acute on the ground, as i was about to find out.
The first day was a beautiful sunny one, and we were told to take advantage of any good day and do the outdoors stuff cause you never know when the weather might turn again, so we rushed up to
Signal Hill and were rewarded with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain (see pic).
But yes, the weather is unpredictable; we were treated to a little bit of fog, wind, cloud, rain and sun every day. A typical winter day in Cape Town perhaps? Not so, says everyone we met. Apparently this week was the worst it has ever been. I was just glad to be somewhere with fresh air. If this was
bad, i can't wait till summer!
We stayed at the Liberty Lodge B&B, a cute place with a friendly British woman running the show. Since winter is low tourist season, we were the only guests there besides a few businessmen. Having met Ruth, the owner, and Lisa and Nita (the housekeepers who also made a scrumptious cooked breakfast), our introduction to Cape Town was already off to a good start.
Landing in our home-to-be for the first time was exhilerating. Coming in, the pilot did a grand sweep of the city, showing off famous Table Mountain and the stunning City Bowl. Also, one could not help but notice the many impoverished areas which seem to infest the gated communities of mansions and estate homes - or is it the other way round? Called townships or settlements, these small wooden and tin shacks seem to stretch on for miles into the distance. The incomprehensible inequality is even more acute on the ground, as i was about to find out.
The first day was a beautiful sunny one, and we were told to take advantage of any good day and do the outdoors stuff cause you never know when the weather might turn again, so we rushed up to Signal Hill and were rewarded with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain (see pic).
But yes, the weather is unpredictable; we were treated to a little bit of fog, wind, cloud, rain and sun every day. A typical winter day in Cape Town perhaps? Not so, says everyone we met. Apparently this week was the worst it has ever been. I was just glad to be somewhere with fresh air. If this was bad, i can't wait till summer!
We stayed at the Liberty Lodge B&B, a cute place with a friendly British woman running the show. Since winter is low tourist season, we were the only guests there besides a few businessmen. Having met Ruth, the owner, and Lisa and Nita (the housekeepers who also made a scrumptious cooked breakfast), our introduction to Cape Town was already off to a good start.
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