Cape Town - Day 3

We started off with another breakfast at our hotel and then drove over to Table Mountain to take the gondola up to the top. It was very crowded and we had to park about 3/4 of a mile from the gate alongside the road. Luckily we bought our tickets online ahead of time so we jumped right in line and were up on the mountaintop within 15 minutes or so. The ride was pretty impressive - extremely high and almost fully vertical for the last 1/3 or so. The platform inside the gondola slowly rotated so that everyone got different views.


The top of the mountain was as impressive as the ascent. According to Graham (our Winelands tour guide), there are more species of plants that live on top of Table Mountain than that live in the entire United Kingdom. The views of surrounding peaks and the city down below were amazing. We were lucky to have such perfect weather.







We then took the winding, mountain roads south into the Cape.


We stopped in Simon's Town, which was a quaint sea town with noticeable European influence that continues to this day in the form of vacationers. We had lunch at Bertha's overlooking the bay, where I enjoyed a nice Windhoek lager on draft.




We then drove down the coast a bit to the penguin colony, which is a national park to preserve the penguin population. It was quite crowded with tourists, but the penguins didn't seem to mind. We did not run over any penguins.


We then drove further south along the eastern side of the peninsula and into the Cape of Good Hope National Park, passing some roadside baboons on the way.


We drove all the way to the end of the park and then hiked up to the old lighthouse atop Cape Point. It was a pretty steep climb, but the views were worth it.





We then headed back up the coast through Fish Hoek and Kalk Bay and eventually back into Cape Town. Now we're regrouping and planning to head out for dinner for our last night in the Cape.