Chapter Four - Valentino See's Cape Town

Uncle Andre' gave Daddy directions to his offices in Sea Point by 'phone when we were having lunch in Hermanus. Good directions, because we pulled up in front of his offices only having gone a hundred yards too far. We haven't seen each other for two years, since he moved to Cape Town from Durban with his family, so it was a happy re-union.

Cloudy view of Table Mountain from THE FLAT.

After the greetings had been made and a bit of chit-chat about the ride, we were given an envelope and directions to Bloubergstrand with a 'phone number on it. The verbal directions were a scream. "Get on your bike, ride to the stop street, turn left, go 50 feet to the next stop street, then turn left. Go straight until you get to the traffic circle, go left then straight through, the same way you came. Keep in the left lane until you get to the robots; then turn left. You will now go on to the freeway, keep left. Get in to the lane on the left which says N1 Paarl. The freeway splits. Go left."....etc....etc. We had difficulty in trying to concentrate on the instructions. Fortunately, it ended with a pyramid hotel (it really does look like that), and two more Go left's. We were told that the person we phoned would give us a set of flat keys when we gave him the envelope. We were told that we were booked into a self-catering beachfront flat for 5 days. That way we could come and go as we please without worrying about disturbing anybody. How awesome!!

The directions were RIGHT. We went left and found ourselves with a third floor view of Table Mountain and Robben Island from as close to Bloubergstrand as one can get. After getting the flat ship-shape and unpacking, we relaxed after our long ride having now done close to 1800 km's since leaving Durban in four days. A light supper with an evening of looking at the sun setting after 19.30 and the people visiting the beach for various activities, walking, running, dog walking, etc.

We woke up a bit late, but after coffee and toast, we decided to visit the much advertised and talked about V & A Waterfront. Not knowing the number of ways to get there, we parked once, then found that it was possible to get motorcycle parking near the centre of the business area, and so fetched the Harley to re-park. We found ourselves near the four statue memorial of Nobel Square with Albert Luthuli, F. W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu. Mommy Lila posed next to Tutu in his famous "deep thought" pose, and "shook hands" with the one and only Nelson Mandela.

Walking around, we found a fascinating mix of quaint, high quality stalls with unique hand-made articles (from clothing and jewellery, to wooden decorations and furniture), to a large shopping centre replete with all the franchised stores ....and restaurants. Everywhere you look, restaurants. Outside the Cape Town Fish Market restaurant we saw the historic Clock Tower. Once Red and White, it has now been painted Yellow and Black. It boasts an old tidal-gauge mechanism on the ground floor, which was used to measure tide levels. The second floor holds a decorative mirror room, which enabled the Port Captain a full view of all harbour activities. The clock mechanism can be found on the top floor, and, thanks to a restoration in 1997, the original clock is still in use today.

It is easy to get tired from all the walking to see the sites, but as said, there is lots of seating at the plentiful restaurants for resting weary legs. One of the hotels has an open air patio restaurant, featuring a golden statue of a seal called Oscar. At first glance, the impressive seal sculpture is a fitting mascot – Cape Fur Seals are an integral part of harbour life at the V&A Waterfront, and seal-watching is an amusing pastime.
But Oscar the Seal wasn't just another playful marine pup gamboling on the tyres along the quaysides. Beneath the statue erected in his honour, an inscription reads: "Oscar" the Cape Fur Seal. The original protector and guardian of the Table Bay. So, we have more than one famous "Oscar" with no legs.

One more sight seeing attraction worth mentioning is one of the boat rides, a pirate ship, complete with one-legged pirate captain in charge. We saw him, but no parrot on his shoulder.

Weary, we ended up back up at the flat for a rest. In the evening, we were fetched by Uncle Andre' and taken on a drive up the coast, to see the sights, and then to his home in Big Bay, where we renewed family friendships while enjoying a much appreciated home-cooked meal. Fortunately the cooking was done before the dreaded ESKOM power shedding arrived, We saw pictures of our great granddaddy and great grandmommy and a stool made by him that Uncle Andre' inherited.

It was good to share quality time with close family and catch up on new events, growing children, and relive old memories.
More in Chapter five tomorrow.