We arrived at Capetown about an hour late at 7pm due to rough seas the night before which slowed us down. The seas are now calm and the sun is shining as we are passing the coastline leading into Capetown. The scenery is spectacular as you come into the harbour and view Table Mountain directly behind the city. We had arranged with another couple to do a private tour at night of Capetown which was ideal for us as we had to leave the ship at 5.15am the following morning. We were picked up at 7.30pm by Roger (our guide) and his wife in a Mercedes minivan which was very comfortable. He took us up Signal Hill which is not quite as high as Table Mountain to view the city lights and wow what a sight it was. The lights were amazing!! Roger had bought a bottle of champagne for us to share while we viewed the night lights which was a surprise and a nice touch. You wouldn’t believe it but while we were sitting there sipping our champers this huge full moon came up over the ocean.. it look so huge as it peeped over the horizon. I then remembered there is always a full moon at Easter. After that he took us around the city showing us all the main buildings and precincts including driving along the beachside suburbs where multimillion dollar houses are… around $10 million Aus dollars! The area reminded us of Bondi and Tamarama Beach areas. The water is too cold to swim in and there a heaps of sharks apparently but the locals love to walk along the promenades and there are many beachside cafes and restaurants that are always packed. Mind you you have to pay someone to keep an eye on your car although Roger said that the whole of Capetown is very safe. We also went to a couple of shopping centres which were more deserted than normal due to the public holiday. The shops there are amazing so modern and with lots of great stuff in them. We went to the Victoria and Alfred waterfront area which reminded us of Darling Harbour but more up market and not as touristy as a lot of locals live around the harbour and use the waterfront shopping and eating areas as their everyday hangouts. We were dropped back to the ship around 11.30pm which was late enough when we had to be off the ship by 5.15am!! Roger was keen to go to the casino or to a bar for a drink which we had to pass on. It was great to have had the opportunity to see so much of Capetown even though it was at night as we would not have been able to cover so much territory on our own. Capetown was a lovely city which needs longer to explore! I am thinking we will have to come back as the wine growing areas are supposed to be very beautiful. I know the wines that we have tried have been very nice and seem to be reasonably priced.
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