36 Hours in Cape Town - New York Times Page 1 of 6

January 27, 2008

36 Hours in Cape Town

By MICHAEL WINES

CAPE Town is South Africa’s Los Angeles to Johannesburg’s New

York — the glitzy, gorgeous, self-obsessed foil to its grittier, more
serious and more powerful big sister. Which is not to say that it lacks
a serious side. Cape Town holds its own with Johannesburg as a
locus of South Africa’s liberation struggle, and no other African city
combines heart-stopping beauty and historical gravitas so
effortlessly.

Friday

3 p.m.
1) TAKE IT FROM THE TOP

In Cape Town everything plays second fiddle to Table Mountain, the

city’s 3,051-foot icon. So join the hordes of videocam-toting tourists
who take the rotating cable car to the top (27-21-424-8181;
www.tablemountain.net; 130 rand round trip for adults, or about
$19 at 6.89 rand to the dollar, and 68 rand for children aged 4 to 18).
The views of the city, Table Bay and the spectacular landscape
beyond the mountain’s south flank are both awe-inspiring and a
grand orientation for the first-time visitor. Spend an hour hiking;
snap the rock rabbits, or “dassies,” that abound on the cliffs; and
check out the giant compass rose in the mountain’s center. Return
footsore, but inspired.

6 p.m.
2) A DEEP PURPLE FALLS

Over sleepy walls in the Gardens district is a garden furrowed in

1652 by slaves to supply food to ships of the Dutch East India
Company. Today it is a botanical preserve, the centerpiece of South
Africa’s parliament and several national galleries and worth a stroll
in its own right. Steps away is one of Africa’s best restaurants,

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Aubergine (39 Barnet Street; 27-21-465-4909;

www.aubergine.co.za), which serves modern twists on Continental
food in a similarly eclectic — and elegant — blend of blond-wooded
modern and country décor. Have a drink in the outdoor lounge, with
superb views of Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak, then dine on
springbok medallions infused with bitter chocolate or calf’s liver
with a pumpkin fritter and pineapple chutney. The wine list,
featuring South Africa’s best, is both broad and deep. A three-course
dinner for two with a glass of house wine runs 600 rand.

10 p.m.
3) WASTED ON THE YOUNG

The Observatory neighborhood south of downtown — named for its

location near the first Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope
established by the British in 1820 — was one of the few areas to
escape racial separation under apartheid. Today it’s a funky
neighborhood of cafes and clubs serving the cosmopolitan student
body of the University of Cape Town, a center for other nations’
study-abroad programs. Hang out at the Obz Cafe (115 Lower Main
Road; 27-21-448-5555; www.obzcafe.co.za), a neighborhood
institution that is host to comics, plays and local musicians in its
own theater, or Café Ganesh (Lower Main Road at Trill Road; 27-21-
448-3435; www.cafeganesh.co.za), a downscale student bar-cum-
club-cum-restaurant that serves samoosas (3.50 rand), Indian South
Africa’s answer to egg rolls, downstairs, and art films and live,
sometimes impromptu, performances upstairs.

Saturday

11 a.m.
4) THE CHAINS OF HISTORY

District Six, in the mountain’s shadow, was a bohemian mix of

Indian, black, Muslim and white residents until the apartheid
government razed the neighborhood in the 1960s to enforce racial
separation. Sixty thousand people lost almost everything. The
District Six Museum (25A Buitenkant Street; 27-21-466-7200;
www.districtsix.co.za; free admission) is in a converted church that
was once a center of anti-apartheid activity. It graphically documents
apartheid’s ravages in photographs and artifacts from the vanished

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neighborhood.

1 p.m.
5) THE HISTORY OF CHAINS

Most South African gold comes from Johannesburg, a thousand

miles away. But by far its most glittering representation is here in
the Gold of Africa Museum (96 Strand Street; 27-21-405-1540;
www.goldofafrica.co.za; 20 rand for adults, 10 rand for children
under 16), which showcases two centuries of goldsmithing, from
necklace chains to masks to crocodiles, by artisans from western
Africa and beyond. The highlight of several hundred stunning pieces
is the world’s finest assemblage of African gold artwork, acquired
from a Geneva museum in 2001. Grab a snack and a glass of wine in
the courtyard of the impeccably restored museum building; modern
goldsmiths also practice their art in a workshop there.

2 p.m.
6) DRIVE, HE SAID

Many of the cape’s charms are outside the city, so rent a car and
head 15 miles south along the Atlantic to Hout Bay
(www.houtbayonline.com), Dutch for Wood Bay, signifying the
forests that once pelted the area. Hout Bay is a fishing center that is
also a laid-back retreat for wealthy Capetonians. But the highlight is
Chapman’s Peak Drive, a five-mile mountainside journey justifiably
called one of Earth’s most scenic motorways. Bring a camera for the
staggering bay and mountain views; beware the high winds that can
pitch the incautious over sheer 700-foot cliffs.

3 p.m.
7) TUXEDO JUNCTION

Now, time for some fun. Across the cape peninsula and through a
string of picturesque towns lies Boulders Coastal Park (open 24
hours; 10 rand entry fee from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), the locale of scores of
gigantic cantaloupe-round boulders and, more important, hundreds
of African penguins. Two feet tall, brimming with head-cocking
curiosity and hair-trigger irritability, the penguins are among the
most endearing sights on the cape, and being thoroughly socialized,
they grudgingly tolerate human presence, though not touch.

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Boulders Beach has one of only two land-based African penguin

colonies; the rest are on islands. Even hardened adults will be
completely charmed. Get a late lunch at the Penguin Point Cafe (4
Boulders Place, Simon’s Town; 27-21-786-1758;
www.bouldersbeach.co.za), an indoor-outdoor restaurant where
much of the fare — like the tiger prawns with udon noodles in butter
sauce or ostrich fillet with Thai coconut curry sauce and spiced
tomato jam — reflects an Asian influence. Lunch for two, with
appetizer, dessert and a glass of wine, can run 350 rand, but burgers
and other less expensive fare are also offered. Then take your camera
and a swimsuit to the beach and splash with the birds.

7 p.m.
8) TASTE OF AFRICA

Tourist-oriented Cape Town is so distinctly European that it’s all too

possible to forget its roots. So head to the Africa Café (108 Short
Market Street; 27-21-422-0221; www.africacafe.co.za), set in a
restored Georgian house from the 1700s on a street that has lately
become a restaurant (and tourist) destination. The menu plays on
dishes from three major South African cultures, Xhosa, Zulu and
Ndebele, and variants like the spicy Malay foods brought by
Indonesian conscripts who first came to Cape Town 300 years ago.
The fixed-price menu (170 rand per person) includes samples of 10
dishes, with the chance to take more of those you like, plus coffee
and dessert. An adjoining ceramics shop offers original dinnerware
designs reflecting the restaurant’s culinary heritage.

9 p.m.
9) ON THE BEACH

Daytime, one can sit in an outdoor cafe at Camps Bay and marvel at
the bodies on the icing-sugar beach, directly west, and the squadrons
of paragliders directly above, buzzing Lion’s Head, the 2,200-foot
counterpoint to nearby Table Mountain. Evenings, one takes the not-
too-strenuous hike to the top of Lion’s Head to watch the sunset,
then heads back for some fashionable night life. Live jazz reigns at
Dizzy (39-41 The Drive; 27-21-438-2686), an unpretentious and
laid-back cafe. A D.J. plays Africa-flavored tracks at Baraza (The
Promenade, Victoria Road; 27-21-438-2040; www.blues.co.za), an
upscale cocktail bar outfitted in African-Arabic décor (the name is

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Swahili for meeting place), where patrons gather on sofas

overlooking the beach and bay. Strictly for younger folk who just
want to party, La Med (Glen Country Club, Victoria Road; 27-21-
438-5600; www.lamed.co.za), on the beach in adjacent Clifton, is a
burgers-and-beer pub by day and student-crammed dance club by
(very late) night, and the attire ranges from casual to bikinis and
cutoffs.

Sunday

10 a.m.
10) FRUIT OF THE VINE

There was a time long before apartheid when South African wines
were savored by Napoleon and Louis XVI. The vintages are
reclaiming their global renown now that democracy (and a wave of
new investment) has arrived. Before you leave, visit one of the many
wineries south of Cape Town, which combine a healthy sampling of
varietals with brunch at some of the region’s finest restaurants. One
of many is Vrede en Lust in the Franschhoek Valley (Route 45 at
Klapmuts Road, Simondium; 27-21-874-1611; www.vnl.co.za), which
also offers accommodations in an inn dating from the late 1600s.
Besides the tour, visitors can enjoy private wine tastings and a newly
renovated thatched-roof restaurant, Cotage Fromage (27-21-874-
3991).

THE BASICS

South African Airways flies daily to Cape Town from Kennedy

Airport in New York and Washington’s Dulles Airport, sometimes
stopping briefly in Dakar, Senegal, and always changing planes in
Johannesburg. Round-trip fares from New York start at about
$1,300. Taxis from the airport to central Cape Town are around 200
rand, about $30 at 6.89 rand to the dollar. Renting a car may be
more efficient, and Cape Town is reasonably navigable to outsiders;
but remember that South Africans drive on the left.

Crime is always a concern in South Africa, and Cape Town is no

exception. Reasonably vigilant travelers should encounter no
problems: the scare stories generally exceed the reality.

Good hotels abound in Cape Town. The Victoria and Alfred Hotel

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(on the pierhead of the Victoria and Albert Waterfront; 27-21-419-

6677; www.vahotel.co.za) has gorgeous, unusually spacious rooms in
a converted 1904 warehouse on the water. Double rooms start at
2,975 rand.

Protea Hotels offers a mix of reliably good locations, ranging from

Holiday Inn-quality to considerably fancier. The newly refurbished
Protea Hotel Sea Point on the city’s trendy west side (Arthur’s Road;
27-21-434-3344; www.proteahotels.com) has 124 rooms with
mountain or sea views, including six suites decorated by South
African artists. A double starts at about 1,050 rand.

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