Day 7 : Cape Town Capers

We both sleep much better. At 09:00, the sun is already warming our apartment. We take a look around the rooftop pool and bar during daylight, and take in the views. We grab an Uber into the city centre to the District Six museum. It’s a very simple museum, taking up a small corner building in the heart of what was District Six during segregation. The story it tells is anything but simple. It leaves me angry, sad, and dejected. For those unfamiliar, after the Western Cape had been colonised by white ‘explorers’, District Six became a bustling, multi-cultural neighbourhood following the ending of slavery in and around Cape Town in 1834. In 1966, the white, apartheid government decreed that the neighbourhood would be razed to the ground, and rebuilt as a whites only district. More than 60,000 inhabitants of District Six were forcibly removed from their homes, and relocated to the Cape Flats, outside the centre of Cape Town. It remains one of the most egregious acts of racist abuse under the apartheid regime. The everyday stories of everyday folks that lived through this horrific treatment are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

We head over to Bree Street in search of food and wine, and find both at a great little seafood place called Seabreeze. We manage to find a shady table (in the shade, not dodgy - obvs), and cower from the stifling afternoon heat. It’s 32-33C today, and feels it. After a lazy lunch, we walk for 20 minutes to the Mount Nelson hotel - one of THE great hotels of the world. It’s set in plush gardens, standing in which you just wouldn’t know you were in a bustling, modern city. We’re both staggeringly hot after our walk, so hide out inside the Planet Bar where the air-conditioning does wonderful things. I have an Inverroche Amber - a local (ish) Cape gin, and Vicki spends some time paddling around in the deep end of her Chardonnay. It’s a very civilised place to spend some time. We grab an Uber to pick up our hire car for the next 10 days, make a quick pit stop at Pick N Pay for wine/Savanna/biltong supplies, and head back to Sea Point. The heat is still with us, so we head to the rooftop bar for a well deserved sharpener. I have a dip in the pool.

We freshen up, and head out for dinner further down Sea Point beach - The Greek Fisherman. It has a beautiful courtyard set back from the road, which even on a Thursday evening is packed. We have some calamari and Spanakopita (ordered correctly this time…) to start. Both are sensational. Vicki’s main of simply grilled Kingklip is aces. Kingklip is actually part of the eel family, and has a firm, white texture not dissimilar to hake or halibut, and a beautiful flavour. The roast lamb I have is beyond brilliant. It’s also the size of one of Jupiter’s moons, and I struggle to finish it without assistance from my coaching team. When it’s done properly, Greek food is one of my very favourite things to eat. The philosophy is to do simple things to very high quality ingredients, and the result can be magical.

A 20 minute walk back to our hotel serves primarily as a digestive aid. We briefly consider a nightcap at the rooftop bar, but defer to watching the second half of the movie we started last night. We bravely make it to the end this time, and celebrate by falling into bed for sleeps.Read more