First day in Capetown

Capetown is a very diverse city. There are so many things to see and do. You could stay there for weeks and you wouldn't see all of it. I want to give you some ideas to fill your days.

On your first day I recomend you to explore the city by foot. I always do that on the day I arrive in a new city. Or you take the Baz Bus day tour. There you get a lot of information about Capetown. 

On your second I suggest to visit robben island which is about half an hours boat drive on the coast of Capetown. You should book your trip in advance especially in high season. Take a tour on the prison island and talk to a former prisoner. 

After you got back to the old harbour you can visit the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A Waterfront). It's very touristic but a must see in Capetown. There are some good restaurants and a shopping mall.
There are some nice markets in Capetown. Green Market is in the city centre close to Long Street, It's the place to buy local arts and crafts and anything else. There is another market in Woodstock. I'm sorry I forgot the adress. Just ask locals they will know. This market only takes place on Saturday as far as I know. It's a food market were you can buy mostly organic food. It's not too big but very crowded. Around this market there are some shops and galleries. If you walk along the mainroad heading the city centre you will see lots of galleries and craftsmen with it's shops. It's a trendy district with a lot of young entreprises.
 It's a cultural melting pot. I guess it's the birthplace of so many ideas and plans.

If there is still time I mean if the sun is still shining go to the next store and buy a bottle of South African Wine. Then drive up to signal hill. It's the most popular spot to watch the sunset. Beware of darkness. Don't stay up to long.

Capetown - The Mother City

I'm very bad. I know. I has been almost a year since my trip to South Africa. Luckily it was my third time travelling through this beautiful country so the journey is still in my mind. 

We headed to the capetonian region because we wanted to have enough time to see all of it. Which we really did. Baz Bus offers you some very nice day tours from  Capetown to the Cape Peninsula and back. Including bike ride, information about history, culture and living in this region, a walk to the penguins and of course a hike to the Cape. I really recomend this tour to you it's a reasonable price and the buses and the guides are just perfect.

We stayed in Capetown Backpacker which is very good located in the hearth of the city 500m from Long Street and all it's Bars and Clubs. The Backpacker is quite big and therefore it can be loud of all the parties... But it was amoung the cheepest places why we picked it.

Just around the corner (Kloof Street) there are some restaurants and bars. We ate at Arnolds, they serve delicious meet. http://www.arnolds.co.za/ On the same road there is this mozambician restaurant, which is really good and there is the Cafe Paraiso, where they have a belgian-french kitchen. If you are looking for a very unique restaurant in Capetown you should go to Panama Jack's. Freshly made fish and Lobster or what ever they caught this day is served in a fishing hut style building next to the docks. It's very hard to find and even not every taxi driver knows the place. So good luck!!!! I wouldn't drive there with my own care not knowing the way. panamajacks.net

Knysna impressions

Garden Routes Heart - Knysna

South Africa's Garden Route is not only in the spring or summer worth a visit. Even mid-end-autumn still expected with mild temperatures and plenty of sunshine. 

Everything is green but of course most of the flowers are missing. But we didn't cry and started with a hike to the Knysna Heads. Knysna is situated on the Knysna lagoon, which is enclosed by the Knysna Heads. Like two watchtowers project the rocks in front of the small city. We tried to follow the water but suddenly the path ended. So we had to walk on the road. Beware of fast cars. It was very hot and steap (at the end) so it turned out to be a little strenuous hike. I can tell you it was worth every step. 

on the top of Knysna Head 

We stayed at Jembjo's Knysna Lodge. A very cool place to stay. Central, nice and cosy. The owners are very open and sweet. They gave some ideas for places to eat. They drove us to the restaurant, organised us a trip to the rasta community and invited us for dinner one night. We had a big braai. Thank you so much once again. I would love to come back someday.

The Knysna Lagoon

The region of Knysna is known for it's breweries. There is even a brewery in Knysna. We went for dinner to a restaurant called scirocco. They serve good pizzas and you can do a beer tasting. They serve you like 7 different (!) beers locally brewed. They are all tasty but find it out for yourself. Next to this place is a very cool bar. They have life music.

Knysna a rich city. Big houses and a lot of yachts and expensive cars. It's very touristic but calm and clean. There is a dayly market in the center close to the main road. Altough it is very touristic I like the city because it's not to big and in spring and summer it's very colorful. The city is very well located and therefore the starting point for walks, water sports, paragliding and various other excursions.

Madrid - The capital of Spain

Metropolis House

A four days citytrip took me to Madrid. Since we were invited to a wedding-party a two hours drive from the city we actually didn't had much time for sightseeing. Thanks to our friends who gave perfect tourguides we have seen the most important things and places of the city. We started our tour close to the Bank of Spain. Then we crossed Metropolis House and followed the Gran Via which is one of the main roads.

I noticed that there are many old buildings. Some of which were glass fronts or other very modern elements added. Taking the example of the Metropolis House it was built round 1910 by an insurance. You should see this building during the night. With all the lights it's very beautiful. Many buildings were illuminated. Madrid is the third biggest city of Europe but I have to admit it's very clean but crowded. So many tourist and locals....

Plaza Mayor

We went up Gran Via to Plaza Callao then turned in to Calle Preciados and headed to Puerta del Sol. It's a big square in the hearth of the city. Lot's of tourists and locals. Seemed to be a place to be. Close to this square there is Plaza Mayor. It's one of the oldest squares in Madrid. They used it for different purposes during inquisition were they killed people, it was also used as soccerfield, bullfights, theaters and many more... Plaza Mayor is not very nice but the houses around are very beautiful. The paintings on the wall show scenes from different myths. Next remarkable building we visited was the Cathedral of Madrid. The construction took more than 100 years but since 1993 it's finished. 

More than that I can't tell you about Madrid. The next day we went to this wedding. But well there are some restaurant and hotel tipps. We had our last dinner in Madrid in Meson Rincon de la Cava. It was very tasty and cheap. Next to us were tourists and locals as well. Our last night we stayed in Hotel Opera as the name tells yout it's just behind the opera so very central. Exellent service, nice rooms and good breakfast. 

Madrid I will come back someday. 

Dirty Durban Diary

Are you looking for some place with a good clima through the hole year? Some place were it's warm and sunny? So, good news I found it for you. Durban is situated next to the Indian Ocean and with it's 5 km sandy beach it's a good place to swim in some warm water. (The more south you go, the colder the water gets. In Capetown the people usually don't swim in the ocean even in summer...!) The beach walk starts at Ushaka Marine World and takes you to the Moses Mabhida Stadium (the soccer stadium they built for the World Cup). It's a popular promenade for riding bikes, rollerblades or for some jogging. There are small shops and restaurants and one casino next to the way.

 For dinner I would recomend you the Moyo next to Ushaka Marine World. http://www.moyo.co.za/restaurant-moyo-ushaka/map.aspx 

Durban's skyline

They serve very good food, the staff is very friendly and they do have some live music from time to time. It's a south african restaurant chain they call themselves to have a modern sophisticated african cuisine. The restaurant is "upstairs" and the beach bar is "downstairs". This calm place turns into a vibrating club as soon the band starts to play. As the bar was empty I took a chance and talked to the barkeeper about politics, the future and our favourite european soccer teams.

For the World Cup they expanded into the ocean. They built a second bar on the pier next to the restaurant. I think they name it Moyo Pier. I didn't check it out. 

the skycar takes you up for R55

My backpacker was just around the corner of all these places. The Happy Hippo Backpacker is a quite big but very clean hostel. From the roof top bar you can't see the ocean ;-) but you have a great overview over the southend of the city. The doorman comes from the north of Kwa-Zulu-Natal were he escaped from a cheetah one morning.Crazy story

Going home to South Africa

Home in South Africa? Yes, it was my third trip to South Africa so I felt like coming home for some kind. This trip took me from Durban to Capetown once again. I had two weeks and I travelled by BazBus. I had a wonderful time with the guys from Bazbus. Very good drivers and story tellers.... The buses were quite new and comfortable. For this price I coulnd't say anything. They do a great job.

But the very coolest thing about travelling around ZA by   is you are going to meet a lot of people in the bus or at the backpackers. Most of them you see again and again.

My trip started in Durban on May 4 and ended on May 19 in Stellenbosch. Port Elisabeth, Knysna, Stellenbosch and Capetown were the cities I've visited.