3 days in Cape Town South Africa

 

After the 4-stage PE Plett MTB event, we were shuttled back to the PE airport. Safair doesn't allow you to check in for your flight at the airport until 2 hours prior to departure so we had to wait almost 2 hours in the airport lobby before our early evening flight. We were pretty exhausted as we had a 7am race start that morning (Sat Feb 24th), raced for almost 3 hours, finished the race, showered, got our awards, waited a few hours for the shuttle to leave, sat in the shuttle for 90 minutes and then arrived to the airport. Although we had our bikes (and cases) driven to the race thanks to Manic Cycles, we flew back with our bikes to Cape Town. 

After checking in for our flights, it was a breeze through security and then we went to the Bidvest Premier Lounge to wait until our flight was boarding. I was really excited to have some good food options after 4 days of not-so-great vegetarian options. 

Our flight arrived at 8:20pm in Cape Town and after collecting our suitcases and bikes, we were greeted by our hotel shuttle driver. I arranged a shuttle pick up with our hotel so that we didn't have to get an Uber or Taxi. The shuttle was a little pricey ($22 USD or 430 Rand) but it was worth it for the no-stress airport to hotel transport in the evening. 

We arrived to our hotel - Onomo Hotel Cape Town - around 9:30pm. I found this hotel online and I got a great deal around $100/night (including breakfast). We were a bit hungry so after checking into our room and unloading our stuff, we walked to a convenience store next to the hotel to get some yogurt and bottled water. 

We had a great night of sleep (after 4 days of camping and racing) and used Sunday as a recharge day. 

We slept in, ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel (which was included in our stay). I second guessed myself with our hotel location as I wondered if we should have stayed by the ocean but I realized our hotel was in the perfect location for us. 

After working on the computer for several hours in the morning, we ventured out for lunch and then explored the city. 

We ate lunch at Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar (at Green Market Square, where our hotel was located) and it was absolutely amazing. We then walked to the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. We saw some amazing art and I saw a kitten so it was a great day ;) 

Karel got his flat white fix at Kimili Coffee, which was located next to the Red Bus Sight Seeing offices. When we were ready for dinner, we walked to Hudson's Burger Joint. There were several vegetarian burger options. Our meal was delicious. 

As we walked back to our hotel in the early evening, I couldn't believe how many locals were out at the bars/clubs on a Sunday night. 

On Monday, after eating breakfast, we bought out tickets for a day on the Red Bus and started our journey around Cape Town. 

I highly recommend doing the Red Bus tour if you are visiting Cape Town. Not only do you get to see a lot of the area but you also learn a lot with the headphones and informative story-telling throughout the ride. You can stay on the bus and jump off at any of the 24 stops. Just make sure to hold on to your hat if you sit on the top level of the bus as it can get windy. 

We rode the bus to shuttle stop 11 and got off at Sea Point. We hadn't swam in a week and I was really missing the pool. I researched pools in the Cape Town Area and came across the Sea Point Swimming Pool which looked amazing. A 27 meter outdoor pool by the ocean. 

We got off the shuttle, paid $1.80 to enter the pool area and I could not wait to swim. Well, that was short lived as the water was freezing! It was not heated and very cold. I managed ~400 meters and then I couldn't take it any more. I went to the diving well to swim until 700 meters. The diving well was a little less cold but the water was green and looked like a lake, which was a strange feeling. 

Karel was able to swim a bit more than I could but nonetheless, it was still a cool experience. Karel got ice cream after the swim (I took a while to warm up) and then we waited for the bus to hop back on (every 20 minutes a bus arrives to the designated stops). We finished our ride around Cape Town and got off at stop 5 (the Tour office) which was where our hotel was located. 

Our hotel was in the prime location of the town as it is also where all the vendors set up their shops every morning (and take it down every evening). If you want to buy gifts and souvenirs, this is a good spot to shop. You can negotiate with the vendors but just be aware that the items are similar at each vendor tent. 

We were pretty hungry when we arrived back to our hotel a little after noon so we decided to go back to our new favorite restaurant Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar for another delicious lunch. 

In the early afternoon, we jumped back on the bus and took the blue line bus to stop 22 - World of Birds and Monkey Jungle. There weren't a lot of people there which made it feel like a private visit to the largest sanctuary of birds in South Africa. It was really neat to be so close to the birds. We spent around 90 minutes walking around and it was a really cool experience. The monkeys were extra cute. 

We got back on the blue bus and finished off our daily tour. I really enjoyed the information that we learned on the blue bus line so I highly recommend getting on that bus line, even if you don't plan to get off at any of the stops. 

For dinner we had the most incredible dining experience at Madam Taitou. This Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant was amazing. We ate with our hands, the restaurant was filled with culture and the food was amazing. I got a vegetarian sampler dish that had a variety of different food selections. The lentils were my favorite. 

The US dollar goes very far in South Africa so for all of our meals, we never paid more than $25 - total. 

For our last day in Cape Town, after eating breakfast, we got in some activity by running 2.3 miles to the Lions Head Parking area. We fast hiked up to the top and back down. Then ran back to the hotel. In total it was 7.6 miles, 2100 feet and took us an hour and 48 hours. It was a beautiful, fun, adventurous 3 mile round trip hike with amazing views along the way. As the locals say, it was lekker!

The hike had a few technical sections with ladders and there was a few "climbing" up and over rocks which made forr a fun hiking experience. It was really cool to see different parts of cape town as we navigated our way around Lions Head. 

After we cleaned up in our hotel room, we walked to Clarke's for lunch. I had a delicious salad and Karel had a sandwich. 

As for the rest of the day, we packed up our stuff and did some gift shopping. We got a late checkout by paying for 1/2 day and arranged another shuttle to the airport. Around 6pm we took a walk around the garden area. We left for the airport around 7pm for our 11pm, 16-hour flight back to the US. 

We had an incredible experience in South Africa. This was our second time visiting and we just love the people, nature, animals, food and culture. 

Reunited after 2.5 weeks. 

Skeleton Gorge Hike - Cape Town

 

After a lot of sitting and no exercise for five days, I was searching for something adventurous that we could do for our last day in South Africa. As we were flying back to Cape Town from Johannesburg, I was searching for run routes in Cape Town. I really wanted to visit the Botanical Gardens so when I came across a hike description inside the gardens, I knew this would be perfect for us. 

"The Skeleton Gorge is a moderate hike with a steep ascent from the start to the end and a couple of tricky climbs (on the way down) over rocks and boulders."

We took an uber from the Cape Town airport to our hotel (Best Western) and arrived just before 11pm on Friday evening. We collected our suitcases that we dropped off on Monday morning before we left for our Safari and kept the bikes in the luggage storage. We also paid $30 for a late checkout (6pm) since our flight back to the US was not leaving until 10pm on Saturday. The staff was incredibly nice and the hotel had a mediterrean vibe to it. 

We were pretty tired when we arrived to our room as we had been up since 5am for our 3-hour Safari. Plus a 5 hour drive, 2 hour flight.....we were ready for bed. 

We slept as late as we could but woke up to rainy and windy conditions. I was a bit bummed as I had planned the hike for us so we were hopeful it would pass. 

We had breakfast at the hotel (which was included in the room rate) and it was amazing. So much fresh fruit! We worked on the computer for a bit and then around 9am we decided to take the chance and go to the gardens as the rain had stopped. 

We got an Uber to take us the 6 miles to the gardens. We were told by many people to take the Ubers instead of Taxi as they are more reliable and safe. Well, a few miles later, we we pulled over by the police. 

We learned that many uber drivers do not have the permits to drive but they can still register with the Uber app. When we were pulled over, the cop nicely explained this to us and told us that the drivers car would be impounded. We opted to walk the mile to the gardens instea of having the police drive us. It was a strange situation that left us with mixed emotions. On one hand we were shocked that Uber drivers could be registered with the app despite not having permits but we were also sad for the driver. During our driver, we learned that this driver is from Congo and works for a few months before traveling back to his home country to visit his family. I'm sure he knew what he was doing was wrong but he likely did not have many other options for work. We also learned from other locals that there's a lot of coropution with the government and the president which makes many situations unfair for the locals. 

Around 10am we arrived to the gardens and paid R210 (~$11) per person to enter. If you love plants and nature, I highly suggest visiting this place. "Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world." You could spend at least a full day exploring the grounds and then more time hiking on the trails. 

We started our hike and within a few minutes, we knew this would be an adventure. This was the craziest hikes we have ever done and it was absolutely perfect for us. It was more like an obstacle course. The trail wasn't too busy when we were hiking as the cloudy/rainy weather likely worked in our favor but the downside was that the conditions were not ideal for us to keep hiking past the sandy lake on top of the mountain. We got in around 4 miles round trip and it was the most fun we have ever had hiking. 

Here's a video of our adventure. 

After returning back from the hike, I was a bit nervous to get another uber but thankfully, this guy had a permit. There was no way to know if a driver had a permit as we never saw any cars with the Uber sticker on the car but this driver explained the situation to us after we told him what happened to us earlier that morning. 

After warming up from being wet and cold, we walked a mile through the Company’s Garden and several busy streets to eat lunch at BAR DE TAPAS LA PARADA. The restaurant was in a great location as we walked through many interesting streets filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Karel had a chicken burger and I had a Mediterranean salad with potato wedges. It was delicious.

We then walked through the streets to check out the local scenes (trying not to get blown away with the extreme 50+ mph winds) and went back to our hotel at 4:30pm. We were hoping to get some work done before heading to the airport at 6pm but it was load shedding so the internet wasn’t working.

We had a great conversation with the (complimentary free) hotel shuttle driver who drove us to the airport at 6pm. We arrived a bit early to the airport so the kiosk was closed but we were first in line to check in. It was good that we arrived early as there was a long line for customs to leave Cape Town and to go back to the US. We then spent some time in the lounge to get some work done before a 16 hour flight back to ATL.

And now our trip to South Africa comes to an end. We enjoyed our two weeks in this incredible and interesting country. It was another life changing race cation including three things that we love: cycling in new places, learning about the local culture and exploring nature.
Thanks for following along.