To continue with the sentiment of that song - they're damn right, their milkshakes are the best in town.
After leaving our breakfast spot where the food was ok, but the service and general vibe was unfriendly, we visited Royale Eatery for lunch; and milkshake of course! Royale are known for their lovely staff, gourmet burgers, and (as you can see from the photo) their interesting and delectable milkshakes.
Kerry-Anne, having had only a pickling for breakfast, had a Bergerac burger and since I'd already had a reasonable breakfast I just had a plate of sweet potato fries and a Lemon Cheescake milkshake (which, I recommend you try; if you like the feeling of pure bliss, that is.).
Our waitress more or less convinced me that next time I should try the Avocado & Mint milkshake. Have you ever heard of, and more, had such a thing? Avo in a milkshake? How strange.
I've never visited Cafe Mojito in Long Street, but it did look kinda nice when we walked past - so perhaps we'll make a plan some time to stop in for a drink or two. :)
It's probably not that comfortable, but it is kinda pretty, don't you think?
I marvel at people ingenuity - being able to picture a shoe, or a bird, or a lizard in their mind's eye, and then being able to make it appear into existence using only beads and wires.
Blues (right ahead, on the first floor of the Camps Bay Pavilion) is, arguably, one of the best known restaurants in Cape Town, and probably the best known one in Camps Bay. The strange thing is that even though I've lived in Cape Town all my life, and I've visited Camps Bay dozens of time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - I've never visited Blues. Not for any nefarious reason - it's just that I've never felt particularly interested in going. :-/
Our evenings have started cooling down, the warm days are numbered, and autumn's around the corner. Soon I'll be filling your photo stream with the orange hue of falling leaves, but until then, here's photo one of the more popular places to be in summer.
In my previous post I showed a close-up photo of this crane and commented on how it looked as though it was ramping into mid air.
Looking at the vehicle from this perspective, does it boggle your mind like it does mine to think that the crane is sturdy enough to pick anything up? It reminds me a little of how strange it is that big, heavy, airplanes manage to stay in the sky.
After several accidents involving reckless drivers and cyclists, and in an effort to keep our cycling community safe, the Western Cape Government instituted the 2013 Safety of Cyclists regulations that outline the responsibilities of both motorists and cyclists using our roads.
The basics of the law is that cyclists must keep left (except under specific conditions) and not ride abreast (as in this photo), and cars must be darn careful and maintain a 1 meter gap at all times (as in this photo), and may cross the solid white line to abide by this law (as long as it's safe to do so).
Below is a summary of the responsibilities I mentioned:
The Regulations Require a Driver of a Motor Vehicle to:
Exercise due care while passing the cyclist.
Leave a distance between the motor vehicle and the cyclist of at least one meter.
Maintain that distance from the cyclist until safely clear of the cyclist. However, motorists may cross a solid barrier line to pass a cyclist provided that it can be done without obstructing or endangering other persons or vehicles. If it is safe to do so, it can and is done for a period no longer than is necessary to pass the cyclist.
The Regulations Require a Cyclist to:
Make the appropriate use of pedal cycle lanes where these are available.
Give conspicuous driving signals as contemplated in National Regulations.
Keep as close as possible to the left edge of the roadway.
Obey road traffic signs and rules.
Fit and use effective front and rear lights when riding in hours of darkness and when visibility is limited.
Not ride on the right-hand side of a motor-vehicle proceeding in the same direction, except when passing that motor vehicle or turning right at the intersection.
Not ride abreast of another cyclist proceeding in the same direction, except when passing that cyclist.
Not ride while wearing a headset, headphones or any listening device other than a hearing aid or while carrying another person on the pedal cycle, unless the pedal cycle is specifically equipped to carry more than one person.
Finally, then, to clear up some confusion (that I certainly had) - the law requires a minimum 1 meter gap be maintained when passing a cyclist, but the Pedal Power association promote keeping a 1.5 meter gap. The 1.5 meter gap is probably just to play it safe, in case motorists underestimate how far 1 meter actually is (and because trucks 'n trailers sometimes have pointy bits that stick out wider than the driver may realise).
So, I reckon we try to keep that 1.5 meter gap whenever possible - and let's be a little more careful with people's lives. Ok? :)
I ordered cappuccino at Beleza - and this is what arrived. Don't you love the cup? It actually does make a difference what you drink your coffee from.
As a side note, the coffee was pretty (in fact, really) good. In fact, I found myself wondering if it was Origin Roasting's coffee (which I still judge to be the best locally roasted coffee in Cape Town).
I can't really explain why, but Beleza's one of my two favourite breakfast spots in Cape Town. And, if you know me you'd possibly know the other is Cafe Caprice; again for a somewhat difficult to describe reason.
But, try them both, early, on a good-weather day - you'll probably enjoy them. :)
Isn't it weird that a store named "Fruit 'n Veg" sell cakes and sweets and everything not healthy? These are exactly the antonym of fruit and vegetables! :)
I felt like Augustus Gloop and really had to restrain myself no to dive over the counter and smash as many cakes as I could into my mouth before store security arrived.
Unfamiliar roads can sometimes be confusing - especially if you come from a part of the world that drives on the right side of the road. I never normally need them, but every once in a while a big bold sign like this one does help avoid embarrassment or an unfortunate collision.
It's jam-packed with traders, and even though it's called Green Market Square, it's not really green at all. Green Market Square is a huge tourist attraction - probably because it's so perfectly located in a part of the city that's particularly interesting to explore on foot.
The sad thing about the immediate surroundings is that the restaurants are actually shockingly-poor representations of what South Africa has to offer. We visited four restaurants located around the market and found service the service either to be extremely slow and unprofessional (even though the restaurants particularly weren't busy) or the food to be somewhat disappointing.
Perhaps we just picked the wrong restaurants, at the wrong time, but I can't imagine I'll ever be tempted to have lunch at a restaurant around Green Market Square again.
Here in South Africa we have a few quirks in how we name things. A common quirk is that we call traffic lights "robots" without ever giving a thought to the fact that robots are something quite different - the kind of thing that may in fact have dire consequences for the world, as they did in Battlestar Galactica and Terminator.
Something else that I realised this evening is that we calmly refer to the type of boat in this photo (you know, one of those inflatable boats with big outboard motors, that wiz around our lakes, rivers, dams and coast lines) as a "rubber duck". No, I never said that they wiz around our bathtubs... and nope, we totally don't have a picture of a little yellow duck in our minds when we utter the words.
Louis Botha, the gentleman on the stocky steed, was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa back in the early 1900s. The Wikipedia article is fairly informative, so let me not repeat all of that here.
From the angle of the photo, and the view of Lion's Head in the background, I'd say there's a fair chance that you worked out that this here is the entrance to Cape Town's parliament buildings, and that the well-known Company's Gargens are more or less to the right of this photo, just behind the parliament buildings.
While thinking about this photos I realised that I've never visited the buildings - and I'm not actually aware whether or not the public can easily gain entrance. Do you perhaps know?
I took this photo from Signal Hill Road that winds along the side of Lion's Head to the parking area on Signal Hill.
The area straight ahead and to the right in this photo (on the slopes of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak) are the residential areas of Vredehoek, Gardends, and Oranjezicht. While they're beautifully located, with exquisit views of the city and mountians, those specific residential areas are known to be extremely (like as in very very extremely) windy.
I wouldn't mind living there for a couple of months, but I'm not sure that I'd enjoy settling down there.
Picnics are big in Cape Town. There seem to be an abundance of wine farms (like Warwick and Zevenwacht) that offer pre-made picnic baskets for you to enjoy on their estates, and an overwhelming number of public places (like the beach, the top of Table Mountain, Green Point park, etc.) where you can enjoy your own private picnic.
A store where all products cost R5. Let me put that into perspective - at today's exchange rate that's $0.50 and about £0.30.
I never crossed the road to actually walk inside and take a look. But I can't imagine that the 50%-off pillows and curtains sign in the window could mean that they'd be selling curtains for R2.50, or could it? And, could that mirror, the frame, and those flowers all cost R5 each? That's insane. I'll make a mental note to inspect the store next time I'm in the area!
This area on Plein Street is a little run down, and the stores certainly aren't fancy, and small stores like Sima & Tino Mini Market tend to be packed with a variety of products, from sweets and cooldrinks to shampoo, shoe polish, and even take-away coffee.
In my previous post I mentioned that I wouldn't mind baby-sitting one of the many empty properties along the Atlantic Seaboard; even just for a little while. Given the pointing, I imagine that's exactly what the young girl on the left was proposing.
Just look at those houses, crowded onto the slopes of Table Mountain. How spectacular it must be to live there! Well, for 6 months of the year, I guess. :)
Imagine returning from work each summer's day, to be greeted by this view?
Clifton (and our Atlantic Seaboard in general) is one of the most beautiful sea-side areas in the country - which is why the properties in this area are of the most expensive in the land. What's interesting (though not unexpected) is that most of the prime real-estate is owned by foreigners; many of whom spend only a little time in the country each year.
I wouldn't mind house sitting... just putting it out there. ;)
In 2012 the NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) appealed to the public not to release lanterns over the ocean. In China or Thailand thousands of lanterns are released at once, but here in Cape Town the single lanterns released over the ocean look like distress flares and result in hours of time wasted by volunteers, looking for missing vessels.
In this particular case, I watched as the onshore breeze blew the lantern from Clifton 4th beach, up to Victoria Road, and onto the slopes of Table Mountain. It's irresponsible of people to threaten peoples lives and properties for the pleasure of marveling at the pretty light in the sky.
