I don’t know about you but when I imagined Cape Town, I pictured a quaint fishing town, beaches, a soccer stadium – a place we could enjoy for a quick couple of days. We were fortunate to spend nine days in “the Mother City” and I found it to be very cosmopolitan, a perfect mix of old and new and truly one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen!

Hmmm, where to begin? Cape Town is nestled along the ocean in the shadow of three mountains, including Table Mountain, which is actually comprised of several peaks. The CBD sits in the valley as residential areas crawl steeply up the slopes. The steep streets lead to a mix of colorful neighborhoods. Frank and I rented a car and stayed at an airbnb in the CBD. The immediate neighborhood wasn’t all that great (you have to be careful at night according to the neighbors) but there were some good restaurants and a grocery store within blocks. Frank found a neighborhood pool (a ten-minute drive away), which overlooked the ocean.

Within walking distance was the V&A Waterfront with dozens of good restaurants and awesome shopping. The exchange rate was really favorable which made it great for necessities (haircuts, manicures) but bad because I know we had limited spare space in our luggage! As anyone who knows us knows, Frank isn’t a big shopper but we spent a LOT of time at the beautiful waterfront area. Others would agree— it’s South Africa’s #1 tourist destination at 25 million visitors per year!!! (Table Mountain is #2 with 800,000 annual visitors.)

The people were very friendly, the area was fun to explore, and we enjoyed a lot of great meals (some of which warrant their own post to follow!). All in all, we enjoyed everything about Cape Town and were very sorry to have to leave!