Cape Town is a beautiful, modern city, but coming from Riyadh, the best features are the movie
theatres, the bars, and the public performances -- I went to see the opera there. It was a
modernized version of the Tales of Hoffman which was OK, but hey, it was a show!
I went to the Castle, which was built in the 16th Century by the Dutch to keep the Brits and the
Hottentots out. It worked against the Hottentots alright, but the British made it the Cape Colony
in 1806, I think.
Cape Town is dominated by Table Mountain, which got its name for obvious reasons. I took the cable car
up the mountain,
and decided to climb down. The top was fogged in, so I didn't get the pictures I wanted, I got lost
a couple of times, and I think I climbed down about 10,000,000 ft. before I finally found my car.
I was amazed how close a mountain trail was to the city.
But, it was all worth it once I cleared the fog -- the views on the way down were beautiful...
During my stay in S. Africa, things were fairly cheap, since the dollar was very strong ($1 = 6 Rand). The people were very kind, the beer was good, the weather was decent, and I was a long way from Saudi -- life is very good in Cape Town. I give it a big thumbs up.
And once I got there, well, the Cape of Good Hope was gorgeous, too.
They built two lighthouses there, one up high and one down closer to the
sea once they figured out that the top one got fogged in all the time.
The whole place reminded me of Big Sur -- huge mountains, beautiful sea,
lots of sun and surf. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth.
