Hop-On to Camps Bay in Cape Town, South Africa

After being efficiently and cheerfully processed through early check-in at our hotel, we unpacked and hung up our clothes in preparation for our four-night stay in Cape Town.

We took a one-hour nap in the room, and upon awakening we decided to walk over to Long Street to catch City Sightseeing's Hop-On/Hop-Off bus.  We selected the two-day Premium ticket, which came with bonuses of an evening bus tour and harbor boat ride for only a few dollars more than a single-day ticket.

We had a morning tour scheduled with our packaged tour company the next day, but we assumed we would want afternoon transportation available, and Hop-On buses can work well for reaching prominent sites.

As it turned out, the pristine condition of the City Sightseeing buses were far superior to those found in Messina or even Corfu.

The sound system headphone sockets all seemed to work.  The buses were meticulously clean.  Now it may be that this particular franchise happened to just buy new buses, or maybe this is a new location entirely, but the operation including salespersons and guides was top-notch.  Everyone performed excellently.

The recording on the bus provided really interesting narratives about everything from Nelson Mandela to rationalization of why sea water is colder in summer than winter in Cape Town, to Khoikhoi and San tribes who originally inhabited the region, to early Portuguese explorers, to the Dutch Boers, to British rule, to the drama behind high-rises "Salt, Pepper and Mustard" that flaunt height restrictions on the slope of Table Mountain, to the jungles filled with lions and other wild animals that used to be there, to the geographical features like the Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles as a backdrop from the coast.

Our first stop was Table Mountain, where even without going to the top we could take in panoramic views of Cape Town's downtown area.  As we would come to learn, there are many parts of Cape Town beyond the city.  It is more like a sprawling county.  Our packaged tour was scheduled to return to Table Mountain in the morning, so we simply took photos and then continued the bus ride.

We exited the bus as planned at Camps Bay, a beautiful beach with 360-degree views. 

Our thinking had been that rather than extensive time napping in the hotel room, we could stretch out on one of the world's great beaches.

Good plan!

For 430 Rand (about $25), we rented two lounge chairs and an umbrella, which a beach attendant retrieved for us by running at full speed through the sand.

Vendors selling soft drinks and ice cream from coolers (for less than the shelf prices at Wawa back home) were never far away, allowing us to easily buy a Coke Zero to quench our thirsts after the first hour.

With bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-seventies Fahrenheit, it was a perfect day for the beach.

Cape Town has well-groomed soft-sand along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean's beautiful shades of blue on display near the southern tip of the African Continent.

In case you were wondering, with Apartheid (1948 to 1994) having ended over thirty years ago, I will note that the beaches are open to everyone, regardless of color.

On the subject of race, I will add that most of the smart, industrious people who I mention as providing friendly, excellent service throughout our trip were black, reflecting the demographics in South Africa.  My personal preference is to not refer to race unless it is germane, a decidedly different attitude than found with South Africans.

Camps Bay is not far from where the Indian Ocean technically meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Frankly, all of the different "Oceans" are part of one ocean, so I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to find a line in the sea anywhere.

Confirming what we heard on the bus, the sea was not warm like tropical waters of the Caribbean.  Ocean temperatures were more like the Mediterranean Sea that we experienced in October when we tested the waters of Mallorca.  Still, we occasionally splashed around with our legs to cool off.

Walking along the beach toward craggy rocks, we came to colorful tidepools that appeared almost otherworldly.

Adjacent hillsides were also lovely from the tidepools as well as from the beach.

After three hours lounging in the sun, we continued our Hop-On Bus Tour through the Waterfront District.

Among many other topics, the narration brought attention to the new Cruise Terminal, which we certainly can now highly recommend as a cruise stop.  Maybe we can return by ship, because we love Cape Town. Cruising there sounds better than long flights, although admittedly that would be a very long cruise from almost anywhere, so perhaps a World Cruise?

That evening, we settled into comfy chairs in the lobby lounge at Fire & Ice Hotel for an unofficial happy hour.  With beverage prices always reasonable in South Africa, it is essentially always happy hour, although we did see signs for official happy hours by the beach and on Long Street.  We were heeding the advice to avoid being out too late, because Cape Town becomes a different world after dark.

The nachos we ordered as a starter proved to have uniquely flavored ground beef.  Having grown up with Tex-Mex flavoring, we were a bit taken aback by what seemed like more Indian spices than Mexican food, but the ample toppings on ubiquitous tortilla chips tasted delicious in their own culinary style.  We would soon become accustomed to these South African tastes.

I think the nachos were 140 Rand (maybe $7.50) and sated us both to the point where no additional food order was necessary.

For drinks, I had Cape Town's own Jack Black's Beer, with a tall pour of probably 23 ounces in a frosted mug for 700 Rand (about $4.00).  Julie went with South African Rosé, probably 12 ounces in a red wine goblet for 620 Rand ($3.75).  Both were great.

It's easy to become accustomed to South African prices.  Think first world quality and service at third world pricing.

As we were finishing our drinks around 9 PM, we saw a large group of travelers arrive.  We assumed that might be the NYC-packaged flight passengers for our Gate 1 Tour.  A front desk clerk seemed to be handling their check-in without the assistance of a group leader, prompting me to ask one of the travelers where the leader was.  "We haven't seen her yet."

The bus driver had gathered everyone at the airport and taken them to the hotel, so it hadn't been total chaos, but this is irregular for a packaged tour, where the group leader tends to be like a good shepherd watching over his or her flock from the moment they walk out of customs in a foreign airport.

What did this mean for the road ahead?

Signal Hill