We visited Robben Island today where Nelson Mandela spent 22 years in prision for political protests against apartheid or as a terrorist depending on the viewpoint. We took a ferry to the island from the Capetown waterfront. The tour to the island is very moving and informative. We saw the inside of Mandela's prison cell and the limestone pits where he was forced to work each day. The tour guide at the prison was a former inmate and told us about life in the prison from his first-hand experience serving time with Nelson Mandela. There is beautiful vegetation on the island and also South African penguins and many other exotic birds. We had lunch at Den Anker (The Anchor) at the V&A waterfront in Capetown after the Robeen Island tour. It is a Belgium restaurant and we had the best pot of steamed mussels and a fish stew soup served the "French way." A bit pricey-R281 ($40)-but very good and worth it. A parking attendant called Doug "Santa Claus" today. Doug wanted to think it might have been because the attendant liked his tip, but it might have been because Doug is big and fat like Santa Claus! Most South Africans are not as hefty as us Americans! We went to a carnival in Maynardville, a suburb of Capetown. It was so much fun and we sampled food from several countries-apple strudel from Bulgaria, potato pancakes from Poland, pizza from Italy, mutton curry from India, rutengausch from Sweden, and sauteed mushrooms from South Africa.
In Capetown, several communities and beaches dot the mountainside, all with fantastic views of Table Mountain, a big mountain that dominates the landscape. The coastal road, Victoria Road to Hout Bay, offers one of the most spectacular ocean drives in the world. Today, we drove up to the cable car that takes you to the top of Table Mountain. But, we did not think we would enjoy the extremely steep and high ride so we bought a postcard of the cable car instead! We drove along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Park with it's spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean come together near Capetown. This is the southern most point in South Africa. We saw baboons alongside the road and in the foliage nearby. We stopped for lunch at Bertha's in Simonstown. We enjoyed Cape Malay curried seafood with rice-so delicious-R208 ($32) for lunch. The prices in the Capetown area are about 20-25% higher than what we've experienced thus far. But, the beauty of this area is worth the price!
We went to an outdoor concert in a small amphitheatre in Stellenbosch, which is wine country about 30 km from Capetown. We saw a popular South Afrikaan singer named Nianell. She sang rock, country, jazz, and classics. She was kind of "new age" and offered "self help thoughts" between songs. The audience was clearly South Afrikaners and she switched back and forth between Afrikaans (Dutch) and English as she spoke to the audience and sang her songs. We had a hamburger before the concert at a neat little diner in Stellenbosch called the Blue Owl.
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