Swakopmund - City, Beach & Desert Sand

On the drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund, you can see very large termite mounds and even larger poverty.

The landscape itself doesn't change much until the sea - it always looks a bit like focaccia everywhere. But while in the vicinity of Windhoek you mainly see baboons standing by the roadside, outside there are more and more empty plastic bags and people who don't seem to own much more. On the outskirts of Swakopmund, we drove past the largest favela I have seen so far, and that somehow hits differently than in geography lessons - especially when just a few kilometers further there are villas on the beach where Germans go on vacation and ride quads in the desert.

But now let's start from the beginning:

Our journey started - of course - again at the Craft Café, where we spent time with delicious food until our shuttle left in the afternoon.

(For those who are interested: we paid €16 for the 4-hour drive in a compact car and were taken to the door of our Airbnb - Deutsche Bahn could learn something from that.)

When we arrived at our apartment, we were warmly greeted by our hostess Ilse and were quickly very excited about the accommodation, including kitchen and garden.

A bit exhausted, we only managed to take a walk along the beach, which is only 5 minutes away, on that day, but it was definitely worth it-

The sun has just set and Swakopmund is also a breathtakingly beautiful town, especially from the beach promenade.

You can put your foot in the Atlantic Ocean at any time (in Robin's case, you can even go swimming in it) ...

... or admire the colorful houses right on the beach, surrounded by huge green spaces, flowers and palm trees.

The further you move away from the beach, the less luxurious the city becomes - a good point of reference is the cute lighthouse, which separates the villas and nice restaurants from everyday life and shopping streets.

But we also spent a lot of time in the city center, especially because the good old Superspar supermarket was unfortunately located a 30-minute walk away in the city. My personal highlight: definitely the Christmas tree! (And the bakery inside Spar.)

Other than that, we also spent a lot of time at our favorite restaurant, the Farmhouse right by the sea, once even with some dolphins right next to us in the bay.

And it's always nice to walk or sit on the beach - sometimes with birds, sometimes with a sunset...

... and once even with a seal!

Behind the seal in the picture, you can see the long pier, also called Jetty, which we walked to on the first full day and were pleasantly surprised on the beach in front of it.