After another lovely breakfast, we left Pearl Valley and set off into Cape Town, hopefully to go up Table Mountain. The cable car had been closed for a few days because of high winds and Sylvia knew that there would be a lot of pent-up demand so we set off early.
Sylvia got the message that it was open so we were all excited and optimistic. As it was a Saturday the roads into Cape Town weren't too busy and we could see magnificent Table Mountain ahead of us.
We were prepared for a 2-hour wait in the queue but the weather was beautiful, our group were great and we had amazing views so the time passed fairly quickly.
As always Sylvia and Mike took excellent care of us, always making sure that we were all together. Eventually we reached the base station. Each car held around 45 people and it rotated which meant great views could be seen by as many passengers as possible.
The journey to the top was only 3 minutes long. The area at the top of the mountain was very big and there were plenty of walkways and viewing points. The view over Cape Town and the ocean from the top was very impressive. We could also see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so many years.
After leaving Table Mountain we then went to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. We had been advised to find the canopy walk. It was fairly hot by now and we were grateful for a couple of stops on shady benches of which there were plenty. We found the canopy and it was a pleasant walk on a suspended boardwalk in the trees.
After a snack lunch of mussels we were back on the coach for the short journey to our hotel - the Southern Sun Waterfront - for a rest and freshen up before our evening out.
We weren't sure what to expect on our night out other than that it was a 14-course African evening with drumming. On arrival we were greeted by the staff and a rather creepy enormous moving puppet. We were shown to our table and the drumming lesson began - all good fun. Fortunately the 14 courses were small dishes, a bit like an African tapas. It was all very tasty and jn between courses we were treated to African entertainment from dancers, singers and the 'puppet'.
Robben Island
Kirstenbosch Gardens
First heart transplant surgeon
Our room for the next three nights
Hotel Lobby
A tapas evening South African style at the Gold Restaurant in Cape Town. Fourteen courses
