Snappy Marty

Cape Town & the Cape Peninsula turned out to be jam packed with unanticipated adventures that were arranged by the Africa Adventure Co. with some input from me on research I had done before our departure. One day we had Karen for a guide in Cape Town & then for three days, Howie was our guide around Cape Town & the Cape Peninsula. We discovered the people, architecture, agriculture, history, geography & culture of the area. Oh, not to mention animals; but of course nothing like we saw on the game preserves. There was an unbelievable amount to see.

The Bo-Kaap is an area of Cape Town, South Africa formerly known as the Malay Quarter.

Cape Town’s population has grown a lot especially since the COVID pandemic when many folks from Jo-burg moved here. The climate is so much better in Cape Town. It’s a Mediterranean one, much like we have here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Water can be more of an issue in Cape Town

“The Cape Town water crisis …was a multi-year period in 2015–2020 of water shortage in the Western Cape region, most notably affecting the City of Cape Town….In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for ‘Day Zero’, a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent,” By June 2018 there was enough rain to avert a crisis.

Our first stay on the Cape Peninsula was in the CONSTANTIA area of Cape Town at the Alphin Boutique Hotel. A few days later we went to the Stellenbosch area.

Goodbye Botswana.

Hello Cape Town, South Africa.

It was so much more mountainous than we anticipated.

That’s Table Mountain ahead.

According to James Michener, in the Covenant, as the ships rounded the Cape coming down from Europe, the first sailor to spot Table Mountain would be given a silver coin.

The round area ending this huge Cape Town development, is reminiscent of the thorn bushes the Dutch East India Co. put around the 1600’s settlement to keep the settlers in, that I had read about.

You can’t escape home at the Cape Town Airport where we found out that “Curry lifts the Warriors…”

View from Jonkershuis Eatery @ Groot Constantia Wine Farm. Below & to the right is Cape Town.

In Michner’s The Covenant , he wrote about a fictional first winery in Cape Town. Groot Constantine ca. 1685 is is the oldest wine estate in South Africa & fit that description. Intrigued, I asked African Adventure Co. to add the Groot to our itinerary. It was close to our hotel.

Jonkershuis Eatery @ Groot Constantia Wine Farm.

“Cape Dutch architecture, originating in the 17th and 18th centuries in the Dutch-established Cape Colony, this architectural style became a prominent symbol of power, status, and identity…. Whitewashed walls, steep thatched or tiled roofs, and distinctive front-facing gables… feels firmly rooted in the African landscape—an elegant contrast between imported form and local adaptation.”

Jonkershuis Eatery @ Groot Constantia Wine Farm.

The thatch roofed buildings have no gutters nor drain pipes. Under the overhangs are rock lined gutters for the water to fall into. There is no thatched roofing over the entrance way so water doesn’t fall on people entering the building.

Jonkershuis Eatery @ Groot Constantia Wine Farm..

Slaves worked the original farm.

Wines of Groot Constantia Winery Estate.

F.Y.I., 159 rand=9.70 USD.

Jonkershuis Eatery @ Groot Constantia Wine Farm. The gnocchi were not as good as later found at La Bicyclette in Carmel, CA.

Alphen Boutique Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa.

Multiple electrical outlets in four countries. Here it was complicated by the addition of mysterious switches…

The most unusual & delicious whipped orange juice for breakfast at La Belle Cafe & Bakery, Alphen Boutique Hotel, Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa.

Alphen Boutique Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa.

The larger windows meant the building was more English style.

Alphen Boutique Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa.

In the Bishopscourt upscale neighborhood seen in Cape Fusion Tours, Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

Nelson Mandela lived in this ‘hood when he was president.

Note the electrified wire atop the fencing.

That’s Table Mountain enveloped in fog.

Cape Town Orthodox Hebrew Congregstion.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

OUR LOCAL.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

OUR LOCAL. - What a selection of pastries & we had just eaten breakfast.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

OUR LOCAL.

Oh well. Let’s indulge.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

OUR LOCAL.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

I was full but couldn’t resist trying the creamy chicken livers on toast.

OUR LOCAL.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Bo-Kaap“…is a former racially segregated area, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is a historical centre of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town.”

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Bo-Kaap. She made delicious samosas.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The arrow is pointing to the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum described in the next slide.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

South Africa had a pretty sordid history of slavery.

National Library of South Africa, Cape Town,South Africa. "…officially opened in September 1860 by Prince Alfred it was only completed in 1864".

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Company Gardens ; a National Monument since 1962. The Provincial Heritage Site is 3.2 ha.

“The birth of the Company's Garden can be traced back to 1644 when the Dutch ship the "Haarlem" was driven ashore at Bloubergstrand. The crew managed to salvage the cargo and ship's stores. Leaving these under guard,…

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

…the rest of the crew set out towards the now Cape Town and settled next to a stream of fresh water, the Fresh River. Here, anticipating a long stay, they sowed some vegetable seeds they had salvaged and were soon able to reap crops which supplemented the food they had been bartering from with local people.”

View from The Company Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

This 1855 bell & 1911 tower used for giving fire alarms. Similar ones were slave bells to note starting, ending & eating times...

The Company Gardens, Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

“Spotting an albino squirrel is an event worth remembering because of its incredible rarity. While exact numbers are impossible to track, biologists and wildlife experts widely estimate that the odds of a squirrel being born with albinism are approximately 1 in 100,000.”

There seemed to be a dray or scurry of them here.

The Company Gardens, Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Company's Garden Restaurant Garden Tea Room.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

The Company's Garden Restaurant Garden Tea Room. Our hostess made the cheesecake that was well paired with a slosh of gin in the cuppa Rooibus tea.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, on the right, 1862. Like the back of a mosque there is this out cropping of the building. In a mosque it’s for the imam. In a synagogue it’s for the ark holding the Torah(s). So much in common between religions that fight each other.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

Cape Town Hebrew Congregation The First Synagogue Erected In Southern Africa In The Year I862. Now the home of the South African Jewish museum. The restoration of the old shul was made possible by a 2021 grant from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation & opened by Nelson Mandela 12-13-2000.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

Cape Town Hebrew Congregation 1904.

I had read about these synagogues & asked for them to be added to our Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

Cape Town Hebrew Congregation 1904.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Table Mountain. It looks clear but it was so windy that the cables were swinging so much that that cancelled the cable cars.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

African School of Coffee Espresso Bar at 36 Buitenkant Street, Upstairs via the Left Entrance “is Africa's first coffee training academy. Join us and elevate your coffee journey.”

“We empower baristas and entrepreneurs through hands-on courses, blending passion with excellence to shape the future of coffee in Africa.”

We should have stopped in but too much else to do & see…

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

On the drive to the waterfront.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karin Schmidt.

On the drive to the waterfront.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Old vs. new.

On the drive to the waterfront.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Freeway ramp to nowhere at the waterfront.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Taiwanese ships in dry dock.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Silo Museum upcycled (repurposed) granary to hotel & art museum. A friend told us not to miss looking at this building & we asked that it be added to the tour.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Silo Hotel & Art Museum. That sculpture is made from abandoned granary machinery.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

The port with the harbor master's building at the end on the left.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

The ca. about 1796 Mostert's Mill is the last working windmill in Africa.

Can you find the dog?

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens - ca. 1913 - “… or narrow-leaved bird of paradise, is a …flowering plant that is indigenous to South Africa.”

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Crinum bulbispermum is the floral emblem of the Free State province of South Africa.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

“Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens were founded in 1913 to preserve the flora native to the South Africa's territory. …

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

… It was the first botanical garden in the world. with this ethos, at a time when invasive species were not considered an ecological and environmental problem…”

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

At this point, Karen was getting a workout pushing me in a wheel chair around Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

I was at the perfect level for photographing the flowers in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

“Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town's Table Mountain.”

Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

“Don’t enter if you’re not invited.”

”Cape Town Eats Tour with Karen Schmidt.

I wanted a big breakfast at the La Belle Cafe & Bakery, Alphen Boutique Hotel. Delicious & filling but too many mushrooms.

We were to meet our guide Howie Owen for a driving tour of the Cape Peninsula, including the Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point, penguins at Simon's Town, wild flowers, ostriches, antelopes & Kalk Bay.

I knew we’d be driving the ca. 1922 Chapman's Peak Drive, one of the world's most scenic drives.

Like the Big Sur drive in California, it is spectacular & often closed in sections for repairs.

Chapman's Peak Drive.

Hout Bay in Cape Town, South Africa.

Glencairn?, South Africa

Simonstown, South Africa.

Howie called this the “Hole in the Wall Coffee.” there was an opening in te wall through which one could order.

Simonstown, South Africa.

The Duarts don’t want tourists parking in front or visitors if not invited. They look down on the beach where the penguins hang out.

Simonstown, South Africa.

Boulders Beach Penguin Colony.

Simonstown, South Africa.

The Hyundai Staria that Howie drove was really comfortable, especially for my recuperating left leg. It’s not available in the USA.

Once Howie realized my photographic passion, he made sure the windows were always pristine & was accommodating to slow down or stop for a photo op.

Simonstown, South Africa.

At the Alphen Hotel. “Unwind (after a long day’s drive) at Incognito, the hotel's stylish cocktail and tapas bar and restaurant.”

Ankrah Martini & Margarita,

Cape Town, South Africa.

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Southern Africa Adventure - Capetown, South Africa - Part l - November 2025