Tourist First: South Africa: The Western Cape

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

South Africa: The Western Cape

Cape Town and the Western Cape are probably the most pleasant and easiest places to visit in Africa, especially if you're a wine enthusiast, but there's a caveat: the area doesn't seem like Africa. Cape Town has a European feel. The wine lands seem a lot like Sonoma or Napa in California. Here are some snapshots from this portion of our six-week African trip. For an account of the entire trip, click HERE. Click on any picture to make it larger.

The lively Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is one of many must-visit places in Cape Town.

This bar had been mentioned in a New York Times
"36 Hours in Cape Town" travel article. Unfortunately,
its name is the best thing about it. The drinks menu, with
several unique cocktails, sounds good, but the drinks
aren't. It's about the level of a college bar.

An array of masks for sale at the bazaar at Green Market Square in downtown Cape Town.

Prints and original art are sold at Green Market Square.

African textiles at Green Market Square. We came home with cloth printed with President Obama's picture.

Camps Bay has the best beach in Cape Town. Across a busy road from the beach is one of the city's
trendiest restaurant areas.

The canopy walk at Cape Town's spectacular Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens.

Lion's Head as seen from Kirstenbosch.

The M6 is the road for beaches near Cape Town.

A row of beach cabanas at Muizenberg at the northern end of the Cape of Good Hope.

African penguins nest right on the beach at Simon's Town
on the Cape of Good Hope. It's the easiest and most
accessible place in the world to see penguins in the
wild.

Penguins coexist with humans, who live in houses overlooking the beach at Simon's Town.

The nests are little more than indents in the sand and a few strands of grass or seaweed.

The southern tip of the Cape of Good Hope, often mistaken for the southernmost part of Africa.

At the lighthouse at the Cape of Good Hope.

Neat sign, but we saw no snakes.

A natural swimming pool at the Angala, a guesthouse in a vineyard near Franschhoek. The water
is pumped through living vegetation to purify it. There's no salt or chlorine. The only drawback
is that its concrete surfaces get a bit slimy. The water, though, is said to be drinkable.

Above and below, the view from Cliff Lodge near the town of Gansbaai.

The figurehead from a shipwreck,
displayed at the Shipwreck Museum
in Bredasdorp. Below, info on one
of the cape's most famous shipwrecks.

The lighthouse at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa and the dividing point
between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

To reach the top of the lighthouse (above),
one has to climb the ladder (below). We did.

One of many views of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain.

It's a bit heart-stopping, but people are allowed to clamber where they want on Table Mountain.

As our gondola descended from Table Mountain, its counterweight,
the other gondola, was on its way up.

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Argentine Patagonia

They are called what they look like: Mexican hats. They occur naturally in the highlands above the town of El Calafate. The water in the distance is glacier-fed Lago Argentino. An hour's drive east of El Calafate, near the headwaters of the lake, visitors can hike on the Perito Moreno glacier and take a boat ride among icebergs that have fallen off the several glaciers in the Parque Nacional des Glaciares. El Calafate is basically a summer (Nov. to Feb.) tourist town, and there are a number of hotels at all price points. We stayed at Esplendor El Calafate, a very stylish hotel with a full restaurant and bar. The South American picker-upper drink mate is available at breakfast. The hotel is an uphill walk from the commercial area, but that's not much of a drawback. Click on the photo to visit the Esplendor online.

Dominica

Probably the greenest island in the Caribbean, in terms of color and ecological awareness, is Dominica, just north of Martinique. It was named by Columbus, who sailed past it on a Sunday. The island nation is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, but it is rich in friendly people and natural attractions, including a boiling lake, hot and cold waterfalls, a parrot jungle and hill after hill of dense green jungle. There is also a cable-car ride through the jungle canopy (http://www.natureisland.com/AerialTram.html). I wrote about Dominica years ago, and much of that article is still relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/travel/winter-in-the-sun-an-island-where-less-is-more.html?scp=2&sq= Unfortunately, one of the hotels I mentioned, Petit Coulibri, has since closed. Fortunately, there's still a wonderful eco-resort called Papillote Wilderness Retreat http://www.papillote.dm/), four acres of lush gardens, hot-spring-heated soaking pools and modest cottage rooms.

Palm Springs

Palm Springs, Calif., is a great destination for nature lovers -- Mount San Jacinto State Park is a wonderful gondola ride (shown above -- click on it to visit its website) away, and Joshua Tree National Park is a short drive away. It's also a great destination for naturists; there are several major clothing optional resorts in the area -- and for fans of Mid-Century Modern architecture. For a dose of mid-century style, stay at the Orbit In (http://www.orbitin.com/), which does ask that you keep your clothes on.

Pompeii

If you're driving from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, and it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't want to visit the Amalfi Coast, you should plan to spend a night in the modern city of Pompei, adjacent to the ancient city of Pompeii. Above are the murals depicting an unknown ritual in what's called the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. If you can, devote most of a full day to exploring the site. Afterward, you'll want a good hotel. Click on the image for info about Hotel Amleto, a small and friendly hotel in the heart of the new town and an easy walk from the ruins.

St. Vincent

This is one of the "rooms" at Petit Byahaut, an isolated (access by boat only) eco-resort on St. Vincent, the largest island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bequia, mentioned above in this column, is one of the Grenadines. The photo above is of the living deck and doesn't show a relatively enclosed area that had a real bed. Did you notice I said "had"? That's because the place has closed. To read about the property in its heyday, click on the image for a New York Times article I wrote. The article has a link to a slide show with more images of the resort.