Cape Town

​Another travel day yesterday. We began with a presentation by a local historian on the life and travels of David Livingstone. 

Then we had time to finish last minute packing before getting on our bus to the airport where we had to bid farewell to our tour leader, “Star.” The flight to Cape Town for the post trip was smooth. 

The tour leader for our post trip, Thabiso, met us at the airport but did not make a very good first impression there or in the orientation briefing at the hotel. We’re trying to reserve judgement, because our OAT trip leaders have almost always been excellent. 

This morning we drove to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a huge green space featuring about 9000 species of plants and birds. A number of these are unique to the Cape area. It was a windy, misty walk. But we were fortunate in that the torrential downpour came just as we were finishing in the gift shop. 

Our driver took us on a tour of downtown Cape Town with our tour leader providing commentary and pointing out buildings of interest. 

A stop on the way was at Truth Coffee, which is often ranked among the top coffee shops in the world (the best in the world, according to our tour leader, but that’s arguable).

The shop has a “steam punk” theme that extends to the attire of the employees. It’s a neat place, but overpriced. Nevertheless, most lined up for coffee and pastries. And it became clear that guides and drivers get free coffee in return for bringing groups in. 

Most of the group took the option of being dropped off at the Waterfront. We stayed dry by walking among the trendy shops in the indoor market (a converted warehouse). When the rain stopped, we ventured out toward the Clock Tower with hundreds of other tourists.

As the rain held off, set out walking to the Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu museums that had been suggested by our tour leader. He neglected to mention that these are both closed on Sundays. The rain did not hold off entirely, so we had to seek shelter in shops a couple times. It became a 3 mile walk back to the hotel. But we saw lots of Cape Town, including some neighborhoods we wouldn’t want to visit after dark. 

After some R&R at the hotel, we took the hotel shuttle back to the Waterfront area to find a dinner spot.