We could hardly believe that our formal tour had come to an end! A full month had flown by and we had packed so much into it...it felt like both a very short and a very long time. As we do not usually follow a tour, we were glad for increased freedom, but still had enjoyed having the major decisions in the hands of experts. Now we were once again on our own and fending for ourselves. As an aside, we met a delightful couple, Tessa and Ciaráin from Ireland and we spoke at length with them before we left the tranquility of the guest house.
The first order of business was to find our accomodations. We took a cab (already a duanting proposition in a city with gypsy cabs of dubious reputation) and made our way to Milnerton, a suburb on the outskirts of the city. It is a residential area and is not "touristy" at all, and so was a bit intimidating at first. we found our apartment, in a high rise across the street from the beach.
The apartment is lovely, a large two bedroom place with huge windows giving an incredible view of the bay and Table Mountain to one direction and the infamous Robben Island to the other.
We spent our afternoon taking care of the business of living, like getting groceries and planning our coming days.
The next day we were greeted by a clear sunny day and wefesurprised to see table mountain completely clear. All of the tour books encourage that one visit the mountain of this type of day, so we got ourselves together and off we went.
We took a cable car up the 1000+ Meters to the top of this flat mountain. The top of the mountain is a large plateau 3kms wide and long. We opted to take a 3km hike which took us to the highest point of the mountain Maclears Beacon. The views were incredible.
With the ocean and the coast line far below, the clouds started to roll in just as we reached the Beacon giving the mountain an ethereal feel.
As we descended in the cable car we could see the clouds starting to fall down the mountain side. So spectacular!
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