The very best of Cape Town

Issue 30

Some visitors to South Africa are so eager to cram in as much of the country as possible that they head off on safari within a day or two of landing at Cape Town. They’re missing out. This amazing city has more than enough to keep the choosiest of urbanites entertained for a week or more. Emma Gregg selects 15 great reasons to extend your stay, and gives hints on street slang and a useful information directory. Readers of the UK’s Daily Telegraph travel pages recently voted Cape Town their favourite city in the world – and a television survey of place-in-the-sun property hotspots placed it firmly in the top two. To the city’s many diehard fans, this will come as no surprise at all.   Cape Town, blessed with a great climate and a spectacular location, has always been a progressive, cosmopolitan place, and ten years of democracy have transformed it from an optimistic city with an uncertain future to a very desirable metropolis indeed. View from the top If the skies are clear on your first day in Cape Town, cancel all other plans and head straight for Table Mountain’s aerial cableway. The views are out of this world as long as the celebrated ‘tablecloth’ of cloud stays away. The mountaintop park is home to globally unique fynbos flowers (above), and dassies, which look a bit like monster guinea pigs. Break a record The Bascule Bar at the Cape Grace Hotel claims to house the largest collection of whiskies in the southern hemisphere. If you’d like to set a personal best for the largest number of varieties sampled it’s probably best to take it a sip (rather than a glass) at a time. Book yourself in for a tasting and you’ll not only try some exceptionally fine single malts and bourbons, you’ll also learn about the art and science of whisky making. What’s more, Bascule is one of the Cape Town smart set’s favourite early evening meeting places, with happening DJs playing till late some nights. Camisoles, crafts and curios Whether or not diamonds are your best friend, you’ll be dazzled by the ready-made and bespoke jewellery on offer in Cape Town. Drop in on Uwe Koetter (tucked away in a city centre tower block) to watch master jewellers at work. They make one-off rings, necklaces and other items using diamonds and Africa’s other signature gemstone, tanzanite. Requests can be as original as you like – a British customer once ordered a chastity belt studded with five-carat diamonds. Sketch your design on the back of an envelope and, as long as your ideas aren’t impossibly elaborate, you’ll be able to pick the finished piece up a few days later. The best buys don’t stop there. For crafts, including some excellent textiles, Greenmarket Square is well worth a browse. There’s a fabulous curio shop here, too: Tribal Trends. With two floors stuffed full of Africana including very collectible ceramics from the Ardmore Studio in KwaZulu Natal, this is a real treasure house. You’ll also find outstanding gifts on Waterkant Street in the Cape Quarter – probably the city’s coolest shopping area. Head for Africa Nova, a gallery shop stocking fabulous found-object art and quirky beaded animals and dolls made by the Monkeybiz collective of township craftworkers. Just over the road from here is girl heaven – a boutique called India Jane, with rails dripping with mouthwatering camisoles, culottes and feather-light skirts, many the unique offerings of local designers, plus delectable shoes. Dabble in café culture If you’re dropping from all that shopping, reward yourself at one of Cape Town’s best cappuccino bars and cake shops, such as La Petite Tarte, a tiny, exclusive, French-style place in the Cape Quarter, or Cinn-full on Greenmarket Square, notorious for its wicked cinnamon buns. Hop in a helicopter While the best things in life may be free, the next best things tend to be, let’s face it, pretty pricey. But if you splash out on a helicopter tour you’ll never forget the thrill of it. You’ll feel like a million dollars as you swoop over the long fold of land that is Cape Point. Park life The protea, South Africa’s national flower, grows in abundance at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (below). There’s a big section of this glorious park devoted to its lovely, if faintly alien-looking, spiky-headed varieties. Dramatically located on the lower slopes of Table Mountain (it’s hard to say where the gardens end and the mountain begins), Kirstenbosch is a blissful place for a botanical walk. As well as proteas you’ll come across cycads, plants with such an ancient and distinguished pedigree that dinosaurs may well have gambolled among them. In the springtime the meadows are carpeted with Cape daisies the colour of sunshine. Look out, too, for the unusual yellow and blue bird of paradise flowers named after Mandela, who once remarked “I am happiest in the wild, because I can listen.” Kick up the sand If you’ve ever dreamt of riding a horse along a beach of perfect white sand then Noordehoek is the place for you. Impossibly scenic, it’s a great place to play out your romantic hero or heroine fantasies, galloping along with the wind in your hair. Taste the real Africa You’re in Africa – so why not try out some real African cooking. A fun place to spend the evening is the Africa Café, where your table will be smothered with delicacies from all over the continent, and musicians will serenade you with marimbas and drums. Then there’s Marco’s African Place in Bo-Kaap, popular with the locals for its upbeat atmosphere and great African fare. But for the genuine article, Cape Town style, your best bet is to join a township tour and stay in a B&B where you’ll sample local cooking at its best. Wine buff heaven If you’re not yet au fait with the fine qualities of Western Cape wines, a winery tour could prove quite an eye-opener. Put yourself in the hands of the experts and you’ll have a chance to sample some excellent everyday wines – and some precious vintages too – while learning all about viticulture. The Cape’s gloriously scenic wine routes include the Constantia route to Groot Constantia, the oldest wine estate in the country, and the Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarl routes, which take in some of the best known Cape wineries. For a very special gastronomic afternoon, enquire at Paarl’s Nederberg Estate (below) about their exclusive wine-tasting lunches, including a crash course in how to choose the perfect wine for any gourmet menu. Bronze with the beautiful The beach to be seen is Clifton Fourth. If you’ve got bags of body-confidence you’ll feel right at home among the sun-loving crowds, but don’t expect to get your designer swimming togs wet – the water’s far too cold for that. Almost as popular is Camps Bay, and there’s more to do here than lying around looking well-sculpted. The palm-fringed seafront has plenty of great (though pricey) eating and drinking places – check out The Codfather, for heavenly fish,or Paranga, for sheer style. If exclusivity is your thing, head along the coast to Llandudno, one of Cape Town’s most recherché coastal suburbs. To subscribe or order this issue click here Big night out Cape Town clubbers are notoriously choosy and nightspots quickly slip in and out of fashion, but you can’t go wrong with Tank, an uber-cool bar on Waterkant Street. Another swish choice is Rhodes House, a sleek but relaxed nightclub favoured by Cape Town’s elite twenty-somethings. For a mellow vibe, lounge in one of Long Street’s smooth, if smoky, jazz bars. Or for a brash, fun night out, try out Bronx, a gay bar that’s a mixed mecca, open till late for wild drinking and wilder dancing. And… relax If your perfect city break just wouldn’t be complete without a de-stressing session at a top spa then check out The Spa, the penthouse pampering suite at the Cape Grace Hotel. There are hair stylists and aromatherapists here, and the kind of showers that spray water at you from all sorts of angles. The Spa’s signature treatment is a massage inspired by traditional remedial practices of the Khoi San. Join the parade Take to the streets for Karneval, Cape Town’s most colourful street festival, which happens every New Year in the Bo-Kaap quarter. With bands of costumed minstrels (below) playing jazz to commemorate freedom from slavery, the whole area is packed with revellers – all day and all night. Hit the road Get behind the wheel, head out of town, and in a matter of minutes you can be driving through amazing coastal landscapes. Cruise the Chapman’s Peak scenic drive (below) for unforgettable views of ocean, cliffs, Hout Bay and the Sentinel.   The wild side You don’t have to head far out of town to get close to some remarkable wildlife. First up are the African penguins on Boulders beach – the Cape’s friendly reminder that the Antarctic isn’t really all that far away (no wonder the water’s so cold). You can observe the pint-sized penguins’ antics from timber walkways that take you down towards the sea while letting the birds waddle about in (relative) peace. Southern right whales regularly cruise within yards of the shoreline during their annual migration in September and it’s easy enough to get glimpses – but for the best views you’ll need to head out by boat with a specialist operator.   If you’re a qualified scuba diver you can get underwater with Cape fur seals at Partridge Point, south of Simon’s Town. You’ll also receive plenty of offers to dive with great whites but it’s best to be aware that the baiting of sharks by shark-diving outfits is corrupting their natural behaviour patterns, probably for the worse. Cape Town Street Slang Cape Town has 11 official languages including English, so it’s a true linguistic melting pot. With so many cultural references up for grabs, the street slang here is as lively as anywhere. Here are a few nuggets to get you started. yebo (Zulu for yes) yes, yo, hi howzit? how’s it going? izzit? oh really? you’re kidding! just now, now now sometime soonish but not right away sweet! / kiff! / lekker! (Afrikaans for tasty, nice) cool! yummy! sounds good! ag, shame! that’s sweet! how nice! bless! vrot / kak / sif rotten, crap, lousy bru / biykie / bra / china / boet buddy, friend, mate oke bloke jol a good time, a wow braai (pronounced bry) barbecue graze snack hap hap! take a bite! dop alcoholic drink dumpie bottle of beer babbelas (pronounced bubberluss) hangover robot traffic light café corner shop Madiba Mandela jislaaik (pronounced yis-like) for goodness sake, blimey Directory Tourist information www.tourismcapetown.com Country code +27 Getting around Harley-Davidson hire 021 424 3990 Sport Helicopters V&A Waterfront Heliport 021 419 5907 Restaurants, bars and clubs The Africa Café Shortmarket St 021 422 0221 Bascule Cape Grace Hotel 418 7238 Bronx Somerset Road 021 419 9216 Cinn-Full Shortmarket St 021 424 3774 Codfather Camps Bay 021 438 0782 Marco’s African Place Rose Lane 021 423 5412 Paranga Camps Bay 021 438 0404 La Petite Tarte Dixon St 021 425 9077 Rhodes House Queen Victoria Rd 021 424 8844 Tank Waterkant St 021 419 0007 Shopping Africa Nova Waterkant St 021 425 5123 India Jane Waterkant St 021 421 3517 Uwe Koetter Dock Rd 021 425 7770 Blue Buyou 021 671 1763 Days out Boulders 021 786 2329 Noordhoek Beach Rides 082 774 1191 Grassroute Tours (townships) 021 706 1006 Kirstenbosch 021 799 8783 Nederberg Estate 021 862 3104 The Spa Cape Grace Hotel 021 410 7100

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