Cape Town over the last 15 years has completely re-designed itself. The city has gone from a sleepy hollow tagged onto the bottom of Johannesburg, to become one of the most photographed, talked about, and visited cities in the world.
Even Fodors has been heard to mutter that if there is only one place in South Africa you visit, make it Cape Town. Those who live here are more than a little patriotic about their city.
Here are the things we LOVE about Cape Town…
Being the French Riviera of Africa
We drive past homes with sea views clinging to the cliffsides of the Atlantic Seaboard and speculate on the many millions they go for. Some of them even have their own funicular. I mean, how cool is that!
The opening of Parliament
Road closures, alternative routes, red carpets, high fashion, bagpipes, the State of the Nation address, traffic jams, helicopters over the city bowl, the EFF’s red uniforms and several stiff necks – the result of craning to catch a glimpse of the presidential vehicle convoy on the M3.
Camera crews
We know it’s summer when: the southern suburbs’ light poles are littered with film companies’ directional signs; we stop to watch as they film in the middle of a busy street; and the lack of driving rain means that we can again see the two pirate ships at Cape town Film Studios on the N2 between Cape Town and Somerset West.
Our mountain
Because it’s so unmistakably flat (provided you’re standing at the V&A or Blouberg) and draped with a cloud we call the Table Cloth, brought on by a wind for which we also have a nickname: the Cape Doctor (sweet!)
Eating out
Whilst we’re not quite sure which food fad we’re following this week (raw food or Tim Noakes?), we will nonetheless chuck it all in for a plate of good seafood..
Helen Zille’s admission that she uses Botox
If Khanyi Mbau, Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu and Edith Venter can opt for liquid face-lifts, why not Helen?
The Cape Town to Simon’s Town metro
Because we like to imagine we can see the sea from the grimy windows, on sunshiny days (when it rains we all take our cars).
Discussing politics
Where else in the world is it still lawful to discuss the kind of shenanigans that happen here?
… and house prices
Because we live in eternal hope of another property boom…
The Big Issue
Reading in our cars is almost like reading on the London Tube, only better…
Summer
Cape Town has winters??
Having the rest of South Africa on the other side of the mountain
Shew, what a relief they wouldn’t think of crossing THOSE before they can reach us, hey!
The beaches
We do swim! The False Bay side of the bay is MUCH warmer; you just have to live here for a while first and like, lie in the sun for a loooong time to warm up before you head in.
Woodstock
Trendy inner-city chic wedged between the docks and the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak; it’s where the design creatives convert warehouses into functional ‘offices’, provided a coffee shop is only a block away.
Summer concerts at Kirstenbosch
The combination of grass on a slope, a picnic, good wine and the sun slowly setting whilst we listen to the strains of local and international bands is irresistible; that’s why thousands of us go every year.
The Boerewors Curtain
Everyone out north is Afrikaans. Everyone in the southern suburbs is English. But we don’t talk about it.
Service delivery
Despite the loo element, we must still be the only city in the country that can attest to roads without pot holes and robots that work.
Seafood
Fresh from the Kalk Bay harbour to your plate. It’s why visitors love the place so much.
Wine
We drink it on every occasion; we even cook with it.
Tourists
A necessary evil. Don’t you just love them?
Designer coffee
It used to be a European thing, and then we discovered flat whites and skinny latte…
Marc Lottering
Where would we be without the grey-streaked afro on the son of a pastor? And he’s got a sense of humour, hey?
What do YOU Love about Cape Town?
Cape Town Travel Plans
