total guide | SoutH aFRiCa
WHERE TO STROLL Yoga teacher and runner Darden Lotz suggests sensational routes to hike or jog. To get a feel for the Cape Town coast, walk or run along the promenade from Mouille point to Camps Bay, taking in crashing waves, low-key neighbourhoods and the city’s best beaches. If you’re visiting Cape Town you have to hike up Table Mountain – taking the cable car just isn’t the same. There are various trails through the scrub and forest of Table Mountain National Park (see www. sanparks.org), but I like to walk up from the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (have lunch in the tearoom first). An easier route is the ‘Pipe Track’, a picture-perfect wander along the mountainside, with stunning views of the Twelve Apostles and out to sea. When you’re tired of the city, escape to Tokai Forest on the eastern slope of the mountain. It’s covered in pine and eucalyptus trees, and you’ll see kites, buzzards and sparrowhawks, too.
WHERE TO GO AT NIGHT Owner of local radio station 2oceansvibe, Seth Rotherham reveals the top night spots. It doesn’t get more glitzy than Café Caprice in Camps Bay (www.cafecaprice.co.za): it’s all beautiful people and a backdrop of palm trees, sea and sand. There’s always something going on here; in the past, Robbie Williams has played, Paris Hilton’s popped in, and it hosts regular beach volleyball competitions. The Sky Lounge on the roof of the five-star Cape Royale Hotel in Green Point (www. caperoyale.co.za) often puts on pool parties Previous page: Beach houses near Cape Town. Clockwise to centre from top left: Table mountain; Adderley Street flower market; Calimari at Foodbarn; Surfers at sunset; Kalk Bay harbour; Annex courtyard at Kalk Bay Hotel; Cafe Caprise at night; Kalk Bay Books.
ll of perfectly formed Capetonians by day. But it’s at its best at sunset – sit by the pool and drink in the fantastic view: Cape Town stadium in the foreground and the ocean behind it, all watched over by towering Table Mountain. The drive along Chapman’s Peak, from Hout Bay to Noordhoek, is one of the world’s most dramatic coastal journeys, and I tell everyone who visits to do it. Reward yourself at the end with a drink at The Toad in the Village (www.thetoad.co.za): a classic timber-countered South African lounge, where you’ll usually find ex-Springbok rugby team captains.
‘The Pipe Track is a picture perfect wander along the mountainside, with stunning views of the Twelve Apostles and out to sea.’
WHERE TO SHOP
WHAT TO SEE
Fashion designer Olive du Plessis spills the ‘bargain-hunting’ beans. The Afraid of Mice stall at The Old Biscuit Mill market (375 Albert Road, Woodstock; Saturdays 9am-2pm) has the best secondhand clothing around – sourced from America by two dedicated sisters. You’ll find every kind of designer bargain here, from Chanel to Marc Jacobs. Second Time around (196 Long Street) is another wonderful vintage shop: a hotchpotch of bags, costume jewellery, dresses, shoes – everything you can imagine. I can lose myself in there for hours. Bric-a-brac browsing is best in laid-back Kalk Bay, on the other side of the mountain to Camps Bay. It’s very boho, with an organic market, tin-shack bars and lots of little galleries and arts and crafts boutiques. My favourite store is the antiques-filled Railway House (7975 Kalk Bay), with its old movie props and grand piano. When you’re finished browsing, drive onwards away from the mountain to Boulders Beach, where the local penguins hang out.
Menswear designer Willem Jacques goes beyond the guidebook sights. The Adderley Street Flower Market in Cape Town City Bowl has been going for more than 100 years, and the flower-sellers are as known for their humour as for their beautiful blooms. The market’s a good introduction to Souuth Africa’s weird and wonderful plantlife, from spikey protea flowers to the colourful fynbos (wildflowers). Take a walking tour from Burg Street Visitor Information Centre (00 27 21 426 4260). Cape Town’s oldest square is the Grand parade, where the city’s founder Jan van Riebeeck built his old fort in the 1650s. I often walk around there to get a feel for where the city started – and browse the stalls. Right in the city centre, Woodstock has an up-and-coming, arty feel. The Whatiftheworld Gallery (208 Albert Road) is one of Cape Town’s most exciting, showing innovative pieces from South Africa’s rising stars. Last time I visited, there was an element of audience participation – we needed passports to get in.
December 2010 Kanoo World Traveller 45