Cape town is such a beautiful tourist city, with lots of places to shop, dine, explore and relax.
Sequel to my previous post, here are a few note-worthy places and people in Cape Town.
Lodgings: Manhattan Suites and Conferencing
It’s a small but upscale apartment hotel on the banks of the Grand Canal, just behind the popular Canal Walk. I have to tell you that I absolutely loved my room. To be precise, it was more like a furnished apartment, with a walk-through kitchen complete with pots and pans, plates and spoons, kettle and mug, salt and pepper, everything. There was even a good washing machine, iron and a lot more.
However, my favourite part of the room was the balcony. There’s something incredibly quixotic about a room with a nice balcony…to do one or two things on. It was too cold to have candle light dinner on, but I made sure to have breakfast in the sun because it was warm and felt extravagant.
On the flip side, I was sorely disappointed in the internet service. They offered just 25MB complimentary access and even that was difficult to get in the room! I’ll trade pots and pants for 500MB everytime. #Room505
Getting Around: Cabby
If you need a good cabby, do call Rafiq (like the monkey in Lion King) on +27215311011. He knows just about everywhere in Cape Town and charges a fair price. Or, use Uber. Side note: South Africa is right-hand drive like most of Europe. That was a little surprising.
Shopping & Sightseeing
Canal Walk
Canal Walk is the third largest shopping mall in Africa, with over 400 stores. In my experience, this has to be the largest mall I’ve ever been in. It is so big I got lost in there. To be honest, I think I got quite carried away by how beautiful this mall was. By the time I realised it was time to start asking for directions, my feet were hurting and I was almost in tears.
There’s hardly anything you won’t find in Canal Walk; international food brands: KFC, Subway you name it, fashion and beauty brands: Foshini, MAC, Stuttafords had a variety of beauty brands including Lancôme. There are also a few retail chains like Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers, Game and Mr Price, among other small stores.
I should have taken pictures inside the mall but it felt inappropriate at the time.
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
This has an extensive view of the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Town and Table Mountain. Victoria Wharf has a mall hosting many upscale stores and restaurants, much like Canal Walk but quite smaller. The view of Table Mountain from the waterfront is splendid to say the least.
Chapman’s Peak Drive
This is a beautiful bendy road on the side of the mountain. I don’t know a lot about construction but it certainly a feat in engineering. I don’t enough words to describe this road but I’m sure you’ll get the idea from the pictures. I included 2 pictures from other sources because I couldn’t stop the tour bus at those locations.
Table Mountain: This has to be my greatest experience yet and the highlight of my trip. Table Mountain is a prominent landmark overlooking Cape Town and is notable for its flat top, like a table. The main characteristic of Table Mountain is the plateau and it’s steep edges and cliffs. On either side of the plateau are Lion’s Head and Devil’s Peak, all looming over Cape Town.
It is a popular tourist attraction so there was quite a crowd getting on or off the cable car. However, there were a number of tourists hiking and a few actually climbing the massive edifice, all of whom were white people. Some white folks are very adventurous. As you would expect, I took the quicker, more comfortable way up, riding slowly in rotating cable car to the mountain’s top.
I swear you can see for miles from up there, a sweeping views of the city, the Atlantic Ocean and Robben Island – home to the notorious prison where Nelson Mandela was held.
The view at the top was breath-taking and I took a tonne of pictures for you.
I didn’t have enough time to see the Wi-fi lounge and other places built on the mountain. I was preoccupied taking pictures and trying not to snatch up one of the friendly animals
Memorabilia: Wildfire Tattoos: I’m a huge fan of tattoos so I got inked. Wildfire Tattoos is really good. Danny and Carla were such a great help with my inquiry, appointment booking, tattoo design and budget.
I especially like how promptly they replied my emails and how patience they were with finding a design I’d like. My tattoo artist, Garth Staunton was really good too, very sanitary with steady hands. If you’d like to get inked in Cape Town, click here to send an email.
There are so many places I didn’t get to see Hout Bay, Boulder Beach, Cape of Good Hope Cape Point Light House and most importantly – Robben Island. But I hope to change that during my next visit.
Next stop: Obudu Cattle Ranch.
See you soon
The Red Confidential 
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