Capetown Part 2: Kalk Bay, Cape Point, and Cape of Good Hope

 After exploring the waterfront for a couple of days, we moved about half-way down the cape to the fishing village of Kalk Bay. The bay has mountains on one side and False Bay on the other, which was a name given by sailors who used to return from the east and confused Cape Point (the southwestern most tip of the Africa) with Cape Hangklip, that looks similar in features, giving sailors the false impression that they rounded the cape. Kalk Bay was very artsy and had many small boutiques, art shops, and delicious restaurants. There was a large fishing pier where you could see small fishing boats bring in their daily catch, watch sea lions bask in the sun, or explore the rocky beaches. Our weather was in the low-mid 70’s all week and it was very windy, so it wasn’t great for swimming (but the boys did plenty). It was perfect weather for exploring, and we were in a great location to easily get around the cape.  This town had so much character and we loved staying here for the week. At the pier in Kalk Bay.

Starting to get the daily catch

The sea lions hung out with the the fishermen, and would hop up on the pier or swim around the water. The kids loved watching them.

We had a wonderful AirBnB that was about a block off the main road, in an old house downtown. The house was decorated with local art, had lots of antique furniture, and was a great set up for our family. This was the kitchen and dining room, looking from the back of the house.

Looking down on the same area from upstairs.

The living room was upstairs along with the kids room, and our room was downstairs. This opened up to a balcony where we could sit, and the best part was the park across the street that the kids played at each day.

Nice patio outside the kitchen area.

Park across the street from the house. Right off the main road, there were blocks of homes just like ours and this large park in the middle of it. Lots of neighborhood kids played at the park and the kids made friends each day. Our house was just a couple to the right of the right-most house in the photo.

Having easy access to this park was a highlight for the kids, and nice for Nathan and I to sit on the balcony and watch them play.

There was a railroad that went along the coast. This was looking into the harbor where the fishing boats docked and the pier. 

Because the water is so rough, they created ‘swimming basins’ along the coast, which is a public protected area where people could swim. It was about 300 m from our house, so we went a couple times. The water was very cold, but the boys still got in to swim. Eliza dipped her feet and that was enough for her…and us.

They walked along the protection wall to the other side of the basic. It was so windy and the waves were really big outside the wall, even though you can’t tell from the picture. Contemplating where to jump in.

Caleb got a little push, but they did it.

Almost every afternoon, Benjamin wanted to jump off the pier, despite this sign…and everyone else doing it.

More around town. As expected, we found a favorite ice cream shop and went there every day after dinner!

There was colorful local art sold all over the place.

Benjamin loves art and one of his highlights was meeting a local artist! Our house shared a driveway with a charity shop and during the day they used the driveway to sell store items and a place for this artist, Amos Jack, to sell his work. As soon as we arrived on day one, Benjamin was drawn to his paintings and wanted to get some. Amos was such a nice man, and one day invited Benjamin to draw with him. They spent a couple hours drawing and Benjamin helped him when customers came by. Amos drew Benjamin a sketch of his favorite painting of the rooster, and Benjamin drew Amos a picture of a monkey that evening and gave it to him on our last day. It was a really neat experience for him!

We got Benjamin a few of his favorite paintings.

This is the painting of the rooster that Amos drew in Benjamin’s drawing notebook.

There were so many cute stores selling art work, locally made fabrics, and clothes. This was a neat store that sold pillows, table clothes, napkins.

Another day we took a short 30 minute drive to the Cape Peninsula, the southwestern most part of the country, to see Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The small blue dot on the southwest part of the peninsula is where we were.

Table Mountain National Park entrance.

Once we got into the park, it was not busy at all. Lots of open roads and gorgeous scenery on all sides!

Our first stop was Cape Point, which is a large mass of land on the Cape Peninsula. The highlight of this part was the baboons. We read that baboons were common in this part of South Africa, and we were definitely in their home! They roamed everywhere and were very aggressive when there was food in sight. This one eventually was hit with a taser gun by a staff member when it got too close to a child!

There was a cable car to get to the top. The Flying Dutchman was a legendary Dutch ghost ship that never made it to shore and was doomed to sail the seas forever. Thankfully we made it to the top and back :) Another fact about Capetown is it was settled by the Dutch, so many of the signs and street names were in  Flemish.

We made it to the top!

The view of Cape Point were breathtaking. The pictures don’t do it justice.

The beach in the close up is called Diaz Beach. We wanted to hike down there, but heard the baboons were very aggressive on the trail, and it was a long hike so we decided to just see it from the top.

We walked up the stairs to visit the lighthouse.

We took in the beauty a little longer, then took the cable car back down.

More fun creatures along the way.

There were baboons everywhere as you drove along the road. We stopped at a secluded beach along the way, and there were people eating food with a pack of baboons waiting near by. Each time one got close, which was pretty often, the people would throw huge stones (not hitting them) to deter them. Between that and then turning around and seeing about 5 baboons jumping on someone’s car and shaking it in the parking lot where we were also parked, we decided it was probably best to go:)

The next stop down the road was the Cape of Good Hope. The sign is self explanatory. There was a huge crowd of people waiting to get their photo in front of this sign. We did not wait, but were able to snap a quick picture between people taking turns. 

The beaches are rocky and rough in the this part of the world!

Each day we continued to be amazed with the beauty of this country. Next stop was penguins in the wild, surfing, and botanical gardens.

Pray for Turkey and Syria

 

Please pray for all the people in Turkey and Syria who have been affected by the major earthquakes this past week. On Monday, 6 February, southeastern Turkey experienced two devastating earthquakes on the same day, a 7.7 earthquake at 04:17 and then 7.6 earthquake at 13:24, with both epicenters in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. The earthquake had devastating effects in 10 provinces in Turkey, and in Syria, leveling many cities and villages. While we were almost 7 hour away from the epicenter, we felt both earthquakes in Ankara. As of this morning, the death toll in Turkey is up nearing 25,000 people, hundreds of thousands of people are injured, over 80,000 people have been rescued, and hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed. The destruction of this earthquake is devastating, and the country has been mourning this week. It has been a sad week.

The earthquakes occurred in a very poor and underdeveloped part of the country, where the infrastructure is old and building construction was not up to earthquake standards. We had the honor of visiting this part of the country last December, and it is so sad to see the loss of life, number of injured people, and destruction that has taken place. Relief efforts for the earthquake victims have been amazing from within Turkey and around the world. Everyone in the country is coming together to help in any way possible. In the affected areas, many tent camps have been established to shelter earthquake survivors, but it is the middle of winter and very cold in this part of the country. Search and rescue teams from across the world have been working tirelessly day and night to rescue people, but it has been difficult to get to some of the affected areas. As the roads become accessible, supplies have been brought to the affected areas, and many people started arriving in Ankara, Istanbul, and other parts of the country this week for medical care and shelter.  In Ankara, there are many ways to contribute, between efforts at the Embassy, the kids’ schools, and companies organizing relief and support efforts.

There is a U.S. consulate in Gazientep, which was one of the areas severely affected by the earthquake. We were told that all of the local staff there lost their homes. There were also private American citizens with families in that region. The consulate employees and other American citizens in the region started arriving in Ankara the past couple days to receive medical care, housing, and support. Many people in the community have connections to others affected.  Our nanny’s older daughter recently moved back to Ankara from Hatay, a city that was almost completely leveled in the earthquake, and she sadly knows many people who lost their lives, are injured, and lost their homes. It has been a sad week in Turkey. 

Please pray for the earthquake victims and their loved ones, for all the workers and volunteers around the world who performing rescue and relief efforts, and for people to know they are loved and cared for. We are encouraged by each rescue made and the support people are receiving, but their road is long and just beginning, the needs are great, and will become greater as time goes on. Thank you for praying.

Happy 2023 from Capetown! Part 1: The V&A Waterfront

This year we traveled on New Years Eve to visit Capetown, South Africa for a week. We are thankful for the opportunities to travel to many places in 2022 around Turkey, Georgia, and Greece, and we were exited to check off another continent on this trip. This was midnight in Istanbul, waiting for our flight that left at 2:30am.

We arrived in Captetown around noon the next day. It’s a long flight, but we were only 1 hour behind so there was no jet lag!

We stayed the first two nights in the V&A Waterfreont area. After checking in, we explored downtown and got a bite to eat. It is summertime in South Africa, so schools were out, and like us, people from all over the world were visiting to get the sunshine, so it was crowded!

Fish and chips is popular there, so we ate that and tried a local beer. The kids did not :)

The restaurant was right next to this park where kids were playing, splashing in the fountains, and there was music. It was very lively and busy.

This is a view of Table Mountain, from the main downtown area. You can see why it has that name :).

View of the city and port from our hotel.

The next morning we went to visit Table Mountain, which was about a 15 min drive from downtown. There is a cable car to take you to the top, and this is the view from the waiting area. We stood in line almost 1.5 hours and it was hot, compared to Turkey, so we enjoyed some Italian ice and the misting water they sprayed while waiting. You can also hike to the top, which takes 3-4 hours.

This is Lion’s Head peak, which is to the west of Table mountain. 

It was finally our turn to ride the cable car. Table Mountain’s plateau is about two miles from side to side, with lots of rocky cliffs and beautiful views of the city and the surrounding beaches. The cable car held about 70 people and it had a rotating open window so everyone had their chance for a view.

Views from the top of Table Mountain. The beaches there were incredible, lined by mountains, rocky coasts, and rough water.

Hello from the top!We only stayed on top for about an hour, which is about how long the line was to get back down. Poor Nathan stood in the sun waiting while I took the kids for a snack then we rejoined him.

That’s the line to get back down…..

Behind me on the left is Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years, before being elected as the first black President of South Africa in 1994. Interestingly, two additional former inmates of Robben Island have also been elected as president since Mandela. 

Next we drove around and stopped by Camps Bay, which was one of the nearby beaches. We didn’t have swim suits with us, but walked around and enjoyed the nice weather.

These were typical views when driving along the coast. 

We stopped at another secluded beach along the drive. 

The next day we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was nice setup and the kids had fun seeing fish, sharks, sting rays, penguins, and reptiles. So many Nemo fish!

This display was made from recycled plastic and aluminum cans. 

The kids enjoyed the penguins in the aquarium, and were exited to see the ones in their natural habitat the next day.

After the aquarium, we went to the main square to look at some shops and eat hot dogs. This store had lots of big brass animal statues and seats for sale.

Benjamin found a local kids to play chess with.

We had a fun time exploring the city…next stop is Kalk Bay, where we stayed for the next 5 days.