Mounting Table Mountain

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Freaking Steep!

After returning back to the familiarity of Cape Town and getting that much needed shower, we had a final weekend before the daily grind of school got started again. So, on that 11th of September, Evie and I decided to get a good look at the Mother City... from high above it. Taking a typical mini-bus ride into the city from my apartment and then another one up the hillside to the base of the iconic Table Mountain.

Apparently, the hike to the top was only 2 km, but jeeeeeez it was HARD! The trail was essentially a stone staircase of steps about 2 feet high. I've got to admit, that with all my experience hiking about, this was a real challenge for the ol' body. Sure, it was only 2km, but that is 2km straight up the cliff!

At the top, we were relieved to have a steady breeze and a beautiful, clear day. We could see just about everything from the top and it gave us a good idea of the way Cape Town was really like; from the World Cup stadium at Greenpoint, to the port at the Waterfront, and out to the townships in the Cape Flats, we got to see the city in its entirety from the top.

Happy to be at the top! What a view, bru!

Farewell Sweet Evie... Joke

We ended up taking the cable-car down the mountain, not because we were too tired to hike down, but because there was still a lot to do on Evie's last weekend here, and my final days before school returned to torturing me. We took a mini-bus down to the Promenade near the Castle of Good Hope where we walked around the longest standing structure in the city before making a visit to the District 6 Museum. For those of you who have seen the movie, District 9, this area is what the movie is based on. No aliens, but it was a neighborhood that had all non-white residents removed during apartheid. Today, it is a large open field in the middle of the city, a visible scar of the segregation that ended just over 15 years ago.

The museum chronicled the lives of the white, coloured, and black residents that occupied the district in peace before the Group Areas Act designated the neighborhood as fit for 'whites only.' There was also a temporary exhibit on the role of soccer during and after apartheid. It was amazing to read about the extreme racism that soccer experienced for several decades, and the post-apartheid reformation that led to the World Cup coming to South Africa just months ago.