Before you call yourself a Capetonian, there are 30 things you need to do in order to earn this title…
1. Climb Table Mountain
You’ve actually hiked the mountain, not done it by cable-car (anyone can do that!).
Favourite hikes include: Skeleton Gorge to Maclear’s Beacon, Upper Cableway Station to Maclear’s Beacon, Platteklip to Upper Cableway Station and the Pipe Track.
2. Buy something for your home in Woodstock
Because the furniture, clothing, handmade jewellery, second-hand bookshops, food trucks, and coffee shops of the design district are just so happening…
3. Know where the dedicated urban bicycle lanes and paths are
Newlands, Rondebosch, City Bowl to Table View along the MyCiti Cycle Route (16 km; the longest dedicated cycle path in the country), between Obs and Salt River, Mouille Point and Sea Point.
4. Live in the City Bowl
Anywhere else is considered the suburbs…
5. Have your weekend plans spoiled by yet another closure of Chapman’s Peak
The route between Hout Bay and Noordhoek is plagued by rock falls and soil erosion.
6. Take up at least one of the following:
Surfing, kite-surfing, trail running, yoga…Cape Town’s focus on outdoor and adventure sports culture will get you eventually.
7. Write a foodie or lifestyle blog about your life in Cape Town
You haven’t lived until you’ve shared your blow-by-blow accounts of restaurants, coffee shops and where to be seen, with others.
8. Know how to pronounce Oranjezicht, Noordhoek, Llundudno, Bakoven, Wynberg, Bergvliet, Oudekraal and Smitswinkelbaai
It’s a dead give-away when a visitor tries to say any of these; they so obviously are not from around here…
9. Have narrowly missed riding over a Western leopard toad at least once
You also probably sport a bumper sticker creating awareness of the plight of this severely threatened amphibian.
10. Have seen the ravaging effects of a fire on the mountain during the scorching heat of summer
And have a lot more respect for fynbos, and the lives of animals on the mountain, as a result.
11. Have to damp proof at least one of your cottage walls
There are no words to aptly describe this phenomenon.
12. Book weeks in advance to eat at The Test Kitchen
And know that it’s worth it for the Woodstock meets Luke Dale-Roberts experience.
13. Hotly voice your opinion on house prices on the Atlantic Seaboard
They’re either ridiculous or incredible!
14. Know, without having to look at the mountain, which side of the peninsula you are on
It can get horribly confusing…
15. Ride the metro train line between Simon’s Town and Cape Town in some form
Whether you use it as a commute, or to ramble Kalk Bay’s high street over the weekend.
16. Have a favourite corner coffee shop
Not as easy as it sounds; coffee shops are a dime a dozen in Cape Town. But on a street corner, tucked into a village somewhere, you have a spot that is simply you.
17. Climb Lion’s Head at dusk to descend in the moonlight
And stand in awe at the sheer beauty of the city at night.
18. Spend Saturday mornings at your favourite foodie market
Porter Estate, Neighbourgoods Market, Earthfair Market, City Bowl Market, The Palms Market, Willowbridge Slow Market, Kalk Bay Fresh Market, Bay Harbour Market
19. Go to at least one Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert
To jostle for your blanket space in amongst the crowds. The line-up is usually great, the scenery incredible, and the company rather civilised.
20. See the city from really high up
Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, Signal Hill, Tygerberg Hill…there is a hill or mountain with a view at just about every turn.
21. Eat Cape Malay in the Bo Kaap
And understand the difference between samosas, lamb denningvleis, mild chicken kalya, babotie, bredie and koeksisters.
22. Go on several tours of the Winelands
Cape Town’s answer to the London pub crawl.
23. Hang out at Clifton 4th
If not to tan during the heat of summer, then definitely on Christmas Eve when locals line the beach with candles in brown paper bags.
24. Have survived a summer’s worth of the Cape Doctor
The South-Easterly wind takes getting used to. It blows from False Bay across to Cape Town and Blouberg at a rapid rate. All season. Just as well, as it takes the pollution with it.
25. Leave work early on a Friday to hit the beach
Along with everyone else…
26. Amuse yourself with at least one alternative therapy
Qigong, meditation, tarot card readings, quantum medicine, acupuncture or ozone therapy.
27. Go on an underground tunnel tour of the city
Cape Town’s far more tame answer to London’s underground. Explore secret tunnels and water ways below the city that date back to 1652.
28. Have a favourite ‘hidden’ beach
There are not many beaches that can claim anonymity, but you soon get to know where to head for quieter moments – Smitswinkelbaai, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, Scarborough.
29. Know that ‘fish n chips’ does not mean the Ocean Basket
Usually your fish n chips will come from a dingy neighbourhood corner café, like Plumstead Fisheries.
30. Do high tea at the Mount Nelson
Because you can; because you occasionally indulge yourself.