The Cape of Good Hope, Sunday, May 1

We got a good long sleep and rose after 8 AM.  I did hear the Muslim call to prayer at 6 AM, however.  The hotel is adjacent to an Islamic neighborhood, mostly of Indonesian origin, I believe.  Indonesians were brought to Cape Town as slaves, obviously long, long ago.  We had a reservation at Hertz to pick up a rental car at 10 AM, although when we arrived at Hertz, it seemed unclear if this reservation actually existed.  Nevertheless, we secured our car (a white compact Ford), and we were off!

Our plan today was to drive to the tip of the Cape peninsula, Africa's most southwestern point.  It is not the most southern point, as some people think, nor is it the place where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.  However, it is extremely scenic and a wonderful place to explore.  Despite the unhelpfulness of the Hertz attendant, we had no trouble exiting the Central Business District (CBD) and finding our way south.  The highways and signage are excellent here -- as good as any first world county.

Making our way through very nice southern suburbs (all white, most likely), we reached the coast at the town of Muizenberg.  We see the painted cabanas that line the beach that are featured on the cover of our Top Ten Cape Town guide book.  We continued along the coast to a town called Kalk Bay, which is lovely and lined with attractive restaurants and shops.  We passed through on to the next town called Fish Hoek.  Fish Hoek seems a little more downtrodden than its neighbors.

Our first stop today was at the town called Simon's Town.  This town has a large naval installation and also has a great Victorian era main street, very charming.  We parked the car and strolled up and down the main street, making stops at the visitors' center and at a street vendor selling lovely beaded flowers, which we bought!

Just to the south and east of Simon's Town is a real popular attraction:  a penguin colony.  Of course, we parked and walked to see the penguins -- very cute!

From here we continued driving south along the coast, admiring the rugged scenery -- wow!

When we got to the entrance of the national park that contains the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, we found a long line of cars to get in, but it was only a 20 minute wait to pay our entrance fee.  We first drove directly to Cape Point, where we parked and climbed up to the lighthouse, as did every other visitor it seemed.  It was not too crowded, though, and the weather was gorgeous, yet again.

Returning to the parking lot, we checked out the gift shop and found Cape Point fingernail clippers to add to my collection!  There are two dining options here, but both were crowded and not very appealing.  It was after lunch time, but we passed -- hopefully we won't get too hungry.  From here it was a short drive to the parking lot at the Cape of Good Hope.  There was another hill here to climb, which we passed on.

We decided to opt for the photo op at the sign instead, which required fighting off many Asian tourists who are here by the busload.

After this, we departed the park and chose a more western route back up the peninsula (avoiding baboons who decided to sit in the middle of the highway).

We thought we might stop back at Kalk Bay for a bite to eat, but there was a road construction project that impeded us as well as a lot of other people with the same idea, so we just continued on back to Cape Town.  It was our objective to make it back before dark, and we did, thanks to the car's GPS.

We enjoyed an early dinner in the hotel's restaurant called Signal Hill Terrace (not Halaal certified).  Rob had roast chicken, and I had a delicious steak -- very nice!