we go to another place, to another mountain, the sun has not quite set yet. There we find a lot of people, mostly young, sitting on the grass. A few guys are playing guitar, adding a note of romance to an already magical evening. Wild Guinea fowl walk around, beautiful big birds that resemble chickens. «There are so many of them here, they are cute, but very stupid and noisy, especially when they fly to sleep on the fir tree near my house, and then fall off it in their sleep and start shouting at the whole area,» Janey says with a laugh.
The sun has disappeared, and the magic day is ending. We thank our companion for the unique experience and the book, for the advice on where to go and what to see tomorrow and we move to our hotel. By the way, it has two restaurants, one of which we are going to try today, so the second day in Cape Town is still going on, not finished yet and we are very happy of this.
We decide not to change our clothes and go to dinner in what we are wearing, because it is already quite late after such an intense day. Dinner in the garden with the surround of such a luxurious nature is a worthy end to this unusual and eventful day. We have to say that also the food here is at top level. The cuisine is mixed European, the ingredients are excellent, all that we have tried: bread, cheese, fish and meat – everything is local and has an excellent quality, and the wine…the wine of South Africa, this will be a separate story. Our plans, in fact, include a visit to a winery. But this will be later. In the meantime, good African night, we need to think about a lot of what we have seen today.
5
«We will be very grateful if you will not use the bath. Cape Town has a freshwater crisis" informs a card in the beak of a cute duckling at the bottom of our large and beautiful bath, which stands in the middle of a huge bathroom. „Well, a crisis is very dangerous thing, if we are so politely asked, we can also stay without a bath, we can use a shower.“» In the shower there is a bucket that stands in the middle, at the bottom of the bucket is another card. «Well, no, if there is a request not to use the shower, it would be difficult to do» the thought arrived. However, the second message contains other information: «When taking a shower, please do not remove the bucket, we will be able to reuse all the water you collect.» Wow seems it is a really difficult situation. And then for some time we thought about how they are going to use this dirty water.
We often hear that water is a very important vital resource, that it should be protected, but for the first time in our lives, we were faced with the problem of water shortage so obviously. It always seems that everything bad, including environmental problems, is somewhere far away, not here, that there will be enough for our century, and then it will be as it will be. However, life also teaches us these lessons. Travel in this sense is an indispensable point of self-education and self-development. We are sure that after the round-the-world trip, we will come back home completely different.
We have a quick breakfast, although it’s not easy. Our hotel and the food in it are so good that it is possible to take your time to spend the whole day here, but we are in a hurry, we only have four days in Africa. Today’s program is busy, the first place where we go is unique, as many other things, and many places here. This is Cape Agulhas, where the two oceans merge: Atlantic and Indian. Janey advised us to visit this place yesterday.
Adri is driving our rental car. The manual transmission and left-hand drive make driving a car a constant exercise for the brain. Cape Town delights in a of green scenery, but as soon as you leave the city, the picture changes completely: you see the sun damaged fields with cut grass, with flocks of sheep, hills, vineyards, then coastal village with light-colored houses. It is impossible not to stop in one of such villages on the coast of the Indian ocean. We are walking along a wooden deck that protects white sand. On the right there is azure Indian ocean, where boats and yachts are rocking. By the way, it differs from the Atlantic Ocean in color, transparency, and temperature. On the left snow-white villas, not large, but cosy, built with taste and surrounded by flowers. We breath the ocean and store in our memory every second… Even if this would be the last trip of our life, the impressions are enough to live with the memories till a very old age.
We have to write everything down in a diary every day, to keep it in memories.
Cape Agulhas – Indian Ocean meets Atlantic Ocean
Well, here we are…Cape Agulhas. This is one of the most magical places we have ever seen. It seems to us that thanks to our endless travels, we have learned to feel the energy of the place. What does it mean? Imagine the raging foamy waves of merging oceans, if you get closer, small drops of water fall on your skin, leaving a fresh smell of salt. Now imagine huge rocks covered with light green and orange moss, so coarse and thin that it can only be found high up in the mountains, and here it grows at sea level. Some stones are rounded, some are sharp, like mini rocks, creating the effect of moving up. Low shrubs, grasses, and flowers grow on the ground. At the highest point there is a red lighthouse. Opposite the ocean on the hilly coast there are white houses where happy people live. This is a picture, from a dream of a white house on the ocean coast in a village far away from everyone and from everywhere, where you can listen and hear the sound of the ocean, look at it and say every day: «Thank God for this day!».
On the way back, we stop at Whale Bay. We have not seen sea giants there, but we took with us in our minds incredible landscapes and impressions, because this is the only thing that you can take with you after death, this is our main asset: places we visited and meetings that enriched us.
We have climbed the highest hill and we are looking around, slowly and silently: the semi-circular bay is framed by sharp stones covered with multi-coloured moss. The colour of the water changes depending on the depth and the presence of rocks, from emerald green to deep blue. This unearthly beauty requires respect for itself, it does not tolerate fuss and noise. You cannot come here just for five days, or rather, if you come for a short time, then till you come back, this place will always call you. (By the way, we haven’t swum in the ocean yet. March in the southern hemisphere is the first month of autumn, and if the air temperature is high enough, the water is already cold). This time of the year the beaches are empty. It is not even the temperature, we are too busy to waste time on the beach.
We are going to a new meeting, a very unusual and long-awaited one. We are a bit in a hurry, because the road was not short, and those to whom we are going can fall asleep. Yes, here they are, coming home from work: a dozen of penguins are crossing the street in a neat row, arranged in pairs.
Not far from Cape Town, there is Simon’s town where a colony of penguins lives. People and penguins are so used to cohabiting in one location that now they have no idea how it can be different.
Not very big black-and-white birds swaying parade on the streets. On the shore there is their part of the city. There they dig their own burrows, lay their eggs, and live their own family life. They are used to the general attention of tourists, they do not pay attention to people with cameras, and even more, they are not afraid of them, but they do not let them get too close, they demand respect for private life. Another dream comes true.
In the evening, we have dinner in our magnificent hotel, or rather in the restaurant at the hotel. The tasting menu offers dishes divided by elements and prepared with local ingredients, and of course the wine is very good. We must say that South Africa has become a gastronomic discovery for us. In short, the cuisine here is international, mixed. There is no bright national flavour here or old culinary traditions, but what local restaurants offer is a very high-quality mix, the cuisine of Cape Town is cosmopolitan, but most importantly, the ingredients they use, whether it’s fish, meat, vegetables or cheese, everything is the top, everything is delicious!
Time to go to bed and prepare for our last day in Cape Town. We are moving to a new hotel, it is a pity, of course, to leave a beautiful palace with a vineyard, but new experiences and impressions call us.
This time we chose a small boutique hotel in the city centre with a huge, stylish