The only reason why we'd gone there today in the first place is coz one of my yoga friends is a jeweller and her shop's out there. We went to exchange a present we'd got for someone (I decided it wasn't the right gift in the end and went to swop it for something else). She's got beautiful stuff set in precious metals and all kinds of precious and semi-precious gems and stones. The stuff at her store's even more killer than what's on the site. Her store's called ANPA and the link is here.
We started off relatively early to try and beat the tourist crowds and had breakfast at the famous Olympia Cafe.
The service there is shockingly bad (as in: they're rude), but the food's pretty good. Except Kelly and I ended up with dodgy tummies a couple hours later. Maybe the chipolata sausages really weren't cooked well enough. Yuck.
The funniest thing was the random, stand-alone metal croissant sculpture above their blackboard menu. At first I thought it was a crab, and then realized it was a croissant that was turning green.
If you check out the first picture, you'll see the blackboard behind Kelly. Because it's placed so high up on the wall, it makes the floating croissant look even more weird.
We went to visit ANPA after breakfast (no pictures coz I was so excited looking at all the pretty gems, I forgot to snap away).
Along the way, we stopped off at antique shops (there are about 5 on Main Road)!
...saw people hawking their wares (to tourists):
...spotted a guy in a cool, oldskool PINK Citroen (with the top down, of course):
...listened to Banjo players down an alleyway:
...checked out wire art made from broken bits of glass (that's a chandelier on the left, made from broken bottles):
...saw the Brass Bell restaurant (which has a tidal pool right in front of it):
Then, we decided to have a drink at Cape to Cuba and chill a bit (it was getting a little hot). It's an eclectic bar with a Cuban theme (DUH), right by the train tracks by the beach. It's kinda shabby-chic, with chandeliers mixed with reed roofs and zebra skin upholstery.
The trains actually go past right next to you!
Now you see it:
Now you don't:
It's got a nice low-fi vibe, all the way down to the decor outside in the car park as well:
Since it was a gorgeous summer's day, we decided to take the long drive home and went via the Constantia Wine Route:
We went past Constantia Uitsig, one of the more famous vineyards in that area, then went via Constantia Nek through to Hout Bay. The drive there kinda reminded me of South Buona Vista Road (or what they call the "99 bends" road or something to that effect...)
After going past Hout Bay, we took Suikerbossie Road. I think this mountain range eventually joins up to the 12 Apostles. I think.
I love the drive down Victoria Road - the coastal road that joins Hout Bay to Cape Town:
You drive past some African curio markets along the way:
Anybody for a wooden giraffe?
I love these curio markets - I've always wanted one of these wooden African boy sculptures, they make them in all sizes up to 6 feet tall too. They're almost always wearing oldskool safari hats, with a colonial vibe about them. They're in different kinds of outfits from chefs or filmmakers with cameras to butlers... Kelly has always refused to let me buy any of them coz they're just too touristy for a South African home!
Here's a picture of what I'm talking about, ripped from the net (not taken by me!)
(Photo credit and original location here)
We eventually ended up back in Cape Town again, on Camps Bay beach. It was starting to get packed with tourists here for the season. There were also additions to the beach we'd never seen before, like this Virgin Mobile trailer. (yes, the entire store is a trailer which can be packed up and towed away).
And this is the spot where Shanti's Sunday morning yoga happens. It's heckuva lot more buzzing now than at 7.15am on a Sunday! (look beyond the grass patch at the number of brollies on the beach)
On the way home to Sea Point, we spotted the oil/ natural gas/ alien-bubble thing tanker ship out at sea.
It's quite an eyesore coz all you usually see is miles and miles of big blue African sky and big blue Atlantic Ocean; things as they should be as nature intended them. And only every now and again do you spot 1 or 2 ships. This thing has been sitting off the coast for a couple months now, and every now and again it spews out a long white line of earth-polluting smoggy yuckiness. We're still trying to figure out what it is, what it does, and why it's been sat there for so long.
This is the drive back home down Sea Point Promenade:
Today was a very good day. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.