Day 2 of our Cape Town adventures was one for the books.
The Lagoon Beach Hotel that we stayed at offers a shuttle service to 3 Major stops- V&A Waterfront, Canal Walk and the Airport of course. The thing about Cape Town is that you don’t even need to hire a car at all. Public transportation is readily available and not that expensive, especially to all the tourist attractions.
So we organized for the shuttle service to drop us at V&A Waterfront to catch the City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off Bus. It is honestly one of the best ways to see Cape Town’s hot spots in a short amount of time and you choose exactly what you want to do and see by climbing onto different colored routes- you can find all the info you need here.
We did the Red, Blue and Purple Routes which included us drinking some of Cape Town’s finest Vino!
Our first stop- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. It definitely lives up to its status and the views- just spectacular.
My favorite part about the beautiful gardens is the Tree Canopy Walkway. The Walkway takes the visitor from the forest floor into and through the trees and bursts out above the canopy, giving spectacular panoramic vistas of the surrounding mountains, Garden and Cape Flats.
Kirstenbosch is huge and is beautiful for an afternoon picnic if the weather is right. We were there for 35 minutes then hoped back on the bus to venture on. The tour continued to the Imizamo Yethu Township then to World of Birds, then we came to the detour where we can hop onto the Purple Bus Tour as so we did!
The Purple Wine Route consisted of the 3 stops: Groot Constantia, Eagles Nest and Beau Constantia.
The oldest wine farm in the area is Groot Constantia. It is most famous for its Sauvignon Blanc- which is absolutely delicious might I add- (I’m the sweet red wine- Drinker type). We walked through the vinyards with wine in hand and visited the historical Manor House. The Manor House is a perfect example of early Cape Dutch architecture, while the sculptured gable above the entrance is one of South Africa’s most historically relevant works of art.
We continued on with the tour and stopped at Eagles Nest. Its a simple little restaurant that is perfect for a Sunday afternoon with friends to just chill.
We unfortunately got a bit delayed as there was a problem with one of the buses so we continued on the trip missing Beau Constantia, but its ok, we will add it to the list when we re-visit Cape Town.
The next stop we did was probably the highlight of my trip and to think we nearly didn’t get off the bus!
When approaching Hout Bay, there was the biggest sand storm I had ever witnessed in my entire life that it felt like the bus was going to tip over. The doors of the bus opened, sand pouring in and I looked at my husband and thought hell no, but we sucked it up and got off and searched for shelter quickly! Its a quiet little town, but there is something so beautiful and peaceful about that place that I could sit and just look out into the bay watching the boats sway from side to side and see seals playfully bob in and out of the water.
The BEST part about Hout Bay is “The Man and the Seal” – I was so in awe of what my eyes were seeing that I didn’t even ask what his name was but there is a man that has made a friend out of a wild seal- He spoils the seal with fresh salmon and talks to them like a true companion would. Many tourists have gathered over the years to witness this incredible friendship that this man has put his two children through school and continue to support the family.
Now if that doesn’t hit a spot then I don’t know what will! I unfortunately only got one picture in but here is a snippet of me feeding the Seal! – check it out here.
Head over to the Lookout Deck for the best Fish and Chips you will ever have. I devoured it.
Hout Bay was our last stop for the Hop on Hop Off tour. I was filled with happiness and couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the day.
We were finshed! We traveled back to the starting point at the V&A Waterfront and enjoyed the V&A by night before returning home.
A beautiful day indeed!