Cape Town

Yesterday morning we left our little wine resort in Stellenbosch towards Cape Town! It's incredible, every time I mention during the drive how smoothly everything is going, something curious happens! Yesterday too, we hadn't even been on the road for three minutes when I brag about how well I've mastered driving on the left, no problems or fears at all, and boom, I drive into oncoming traffic while making a simple left turn!!! Daniela looked totally shocked and said, you have to go over there! S...!!! The oncoming traffic was getting closer and in panic, of course, I couldn't get into reverse gear right away:-(! But then I did and I reversed and with full speed onto the right lane! A true nightmare! A traffic woman looked at me totally amazed:-()! After that, I was completely disheartened and told Daniela, I won't say anything anymore about my driving skills or the condition of the car!!!

In Stellenbosch, we visited a really cool antique shop at the end and bought some things. Since we've done quite a bit of shopping during our trip, we're having some issues with space in our suitcases. We actually have to buy two more suitcases :-).

Then we headed towards Cape Town. Our first stop was Muizenberg! The famous colorful beach houses are located on the beach! On the way there, we drove past the largest township we've seen so far! Unimaginable, I can't really write much about it:-(!

In Muizenberg, we walked to the beach. There were signs on the beach regarding sharks and shark spotters. The shark spotters are interesting. They sit high above the sea in the mountains in a little hut. From there, they have a complete view of the bay and can spot possible shark visits! Daniela had everything explained to her, which color of the flag stands for what. The black shark flag was flying, which means bad visibility for the shark spotter! Despite the black flag, there were a lot of surfers and swimmers in the water.

We then finally paid attention to the colorful beach houses. They look really cool. They are lined up on the beach and are the attraction. We noticed that we have mostly been traveling alone so far, but since Hermanus, we have encountered more tourists. We took numerous photos of the colorful houses and then strolled along the promenade for a bit.

We were able to drive along the coast by car now and stopped at an old harbor. Here you can watch the fishermen come in with their catch and sell it around noon. Unfortunately, we were too late, the fishermen were already at the harbor. But it was still nice, it smelled like fish and some of them had their goods on display. Several seals frolicked in the harbor basin. Some of them even got out of the water and put on a show. One posed for tourists while he was being photographed. That was quite funny.

Afterwards, we sat down at a beach cafe and enjoyed something delicious with a great view.

The journey continued, now it was off to Cape Town. I chuckle as I type this: Daniela said, 'please Anke, don't mention your driving skills regarding left-hand traffic anymore, or you'll end up in the harbor later'! I laughed, 'got it'! But Cape Town is really a different story when it comes to traffic, I would already have problems with right-hand traffic. But well, we had to get to the accommodation, so 'eyes open' and off we went :-)! Daniela said, 'well done Anke, we'll be there in two minutes.' This was followed by a road with a steep incline of several percent and I thought to myself, thank goodness starting on a hill is not a problem for me, well, even this thought I shouldn't have had. I made the engine scream and we didn't start, somehow I got everything mixed up. I was in second gear, I didn't release the handbrake, oh everything went wrong!!! We hopped onto the road like in a comic and crossed with the engine screaming. When we arrived on the straight, we burst into tears of laughter. Goodness gracious, it was so embarrassing. I was so relieved when I could finally park the car in front of the accommodation. I said to Daniela, 'that's it, from now on, it will only go to the airport on Tuesday'! The trips in Cape Town will be done with Uber. Daniela said, 'no Anke, we are still going on the complete Cape Tour by car!', 'S... , that's right, okay, then I have to go through it all again!'

In the late afternoon, we had ourselves driven to the waterfront. It is really huge and was incredibly crowded. From there, boat trips to various attractions are offered, there is a shopping mall, and many restaurants. The waterfront is very stylishly designed. I liked it there.

In the evening, I reserved a table for us in a restaurant that was recommended to us by other tourists. There we celebrated Daniela's birthday extensively with delicious food and drinks!

Best regards from the two of us