South Africa, so…………………where’s the luggage?

We knew this would eventually happen and, for whatever reason, Rance’s bag never made it onto the flight from Zurich via Amsterdam to Cape Town. As with many stories, there’s the bad news/good news thing. The bad news is that he didn’t get it for three days. The good news aspect is obvious. It was HIS bag, not mine !!! We did buy him a nice Cape Town golf shirt and some new socks (remember he’s learned how to wash his underwear in the shower!), but the staff at the very beautiful Cape Grace hotel where we stayed did certainly come to recognize him in his travel gear.

View from our balcony

The Cape Grace Hotel – magnificent!! We forgot to take pictures of the cozy library with deep leather chairs and fireplace, with decanters of port and sherry set out for the guests in the afternoon; of the elegant dining room; and of our room fit for royalty, but we are attaching a photo of the view of the Victoria and Albert Harbor and Table Mountain taken from our balcony.

1st day out we ambled around the harbor enjoying the scenery, the yachts, the oil tankers in dry-dock. In several different squares around the harbor, there were local men playing guitars; groups singing and dancing; and lots of every day folk in colorful dress, although Cape Town is a very cosmopolitan city.

5Winners (4 Nobel). Our hotel red bldg in the background

We passed by Nobel Square, and saw from afar Robben Island, where Mandela was held captive for so long. We saw no vestiges of apartheid and were very impressed with the friendliness of everyone we met.

Needless to say, there were also lots of shops, although I stuck pretty much to browsing in the local craft ones. Sorry, kids! Can’t buy anything. Flight regulations are much different here than in the states and since we’ll be on a very small plane going into Kroger National Park for our safari, we’re already being charged overweight. But luckily the files on our computer don’t weigh much, so each holiday we’ll just take out the blog and share it with you all over again! Fish and Chips for lunch on the wharf, with the seagulls and terns launching kamikaze attacks if you turned your back on your food. The seafood is excellent, and for dinner the shellfish platter of grilled jumbo shrimp, langoustines and baby lobster tails was marvelous – we do write about food and wine a lot, don’t we? We are also busy exploring the S. African wines which are also great and relatively inexpensive – in fact our dollar is doing well here, especially after Europe, so we are pleasantly surprised how little things cost.

Susan and Stinky on Signal Hill

Next day, on our way to Franschhoek in the wine country we traveled south out of Cape Town along some of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. We made a quick stop first at the top of Signal Hill to get an appreciation of the view. Just south of CT, on the western side of the cape, there is an area called Camp Bay, which they say is the Côte d’Azur of South Africa. I can’t compare since I’ve not been to that part of the French coast yet, but I can say it is absolutely magnificent. The road, in some parts went right along the water and then climbed so we were driving on a cliff road high above the splashing waves. And although the water was really cold, there were a number of surfers in wet suits having a great time.

Back across Camp Bay

We drove quite a way down on the west side and then crossed the cape to Simon’s Town on the east side. Simon’s Town also has a large harbor and a naval museum, but what we headed for was the colony of African Penguins just south of the town. Because of their donkey-like braying they are called Jackass Penguin. They’re not particularly big like those many of us saw in March of the Penguins, but they do mate for life. It was fun to watch them waddling about, in and out of the water……. and the mating thing? We felt like voyeurs as we also got to watch one “couple” do that, after which the male put his fin gently on the females back and they just stared at each other. Sweet! Then the male lit a cigarette….. We'll save those shots for later - our kids read this blog too, so we have to keep it clean.

Penguins on the move
We then drove all along the east coast – not as majestic as the west coast, but beautiful still – until we had to head inland and exchange the oceans for the vineyards. Not a bad exchange! More on that later.