Africa Day 3 Cape Town 8 July 2018

I forgot to mention the wonderful surprises waiting for us in our room when we checked in on Friday night, my only excuse is that it was a VERY long day.

When we got into our room we found a bottle of Moet Champagne, a selection of very nice chocolates, a small gift and 2 cards.

Thank you very much Jenni from Perchalla and Turner Travel Associates  (our Travel Agent) and The Cape Grace Hotel, it was all very thoughful and a great way to start our adventures here in Africa.

Today was a day at leisure for us, with nothing scheduled on our tour, a day to recoup and reset.

After a lazy start, we took ourselves out at around 10am to explore the area around the Cape Grace. It was a bright, sunny, blue sky sort of day around 22 deg. A short walk across a retractable pedestrian bridge saw us right in the middle of the Victoria and Albert Waterfront (aka The V & A Waterfront). Strictly speaking our hotel lies within the V & A Waterfront.
The area is full of shops, cafes, restaurants, galleries, arts & crafts, tour shops, and so much more. Right in the middle is a large ferris wheel within a wide open plaza with many buskers and other entertainers amusing the crowds.
It’s such a colourful place full of energy and people from all over the world with the Table Mountain as the backdrop. Very picturesque.
Around 1pm we stopped and had lunch in a foodhall. Lots of local food to try, I settled on a Springbok wrap and Deb had a Malay Chicken wrap. Both were delicous,  I can now check another national animal of my must eat list. 🙂
From there we walked to the V & A Watershed, an open plan building full of stalls selling locally produced arts and craft, many of the stall holders were working on new pieces as they tended their stalls. So much colour.
We eventually made our way back to our hotel via the marina area. The marina is full of magnificent boats of all descriptions, sail and motorised. We are lucky to have a room that overlooks the marina, and across town to Signal Hill.
Speaking of Signal Hill,  every day at noon the cannon on top of the hill is fired, a local way of continuing the tradition of Signal Hill where in the past the cannon blast notified the towns people to prepare their goods for an approaching ship. We took up a position that had a clear view of the hill as the last few minutes ticked away to midday. Alas the anticipated boom of the cannon wasn’t forthcoming, maybe it doesn’t happen on Sundays.
We are both still adjusting to the time zone change. Deb is still on Adelaide time, she has been  awake since 1:30am today (9am Adelaide time) and has slowed significantly this afternoon. She walked today for more hours than she slept last night ? An easy, quiet afternoon was had.
The quiet afternoon developed into a quiet evening with room service dinner and Moet?
We have a big day tomorrow exploring the Cape, and seeing a new species of Penguin, the Jackass or South African penguin.