Cape Town - No Introduction Needed

Long flights have always been enjoyable for me: the anticipation of arriving in an exotic place, good food, an excuse to catch up on movies (by catching up I mean watching some tall Smurf flick called Avatar). After nearly 30 hours in the air though, I was ecstatic to finally set foot back on the continent, despite being in more of a zombie than human state. My flight over with Emirates was once again an experience in and of itself. With a long layover in Dubai, I was surprised to find that my complimentary hotel and meal far exceeded my expectations. In fact, I would have been happy to sleep in a cubicle room at the airport with a boxed lunch on my way out the door. However, for no other reason than having a long layover (no fault of my own), they put me up in a nice hotel near the city and fed me an exquisite buffet dinner. Let that be a lesson in customer service. My only complaint, the bed was awfully slidy on the marble floors. 

During the 9-hour flight over the length of the continent, I couldn’t help myself from occasionally popping up the blind and sneaking a peek at what lay below. My anxiety built as I looked over the continent, knowing that I might very well be traversing those exact spots in the coming weeks. With beautiful clear skies most of the way, I reckoned I was in for a treat upon landing in Cape Town. But, about 2 minutes from landing, the plane was sucked into the densest, gloomiest clouds one ever did see. Looks like Cape Town is unlike the rest of the continent in more ways than one.

And what can I say about Cape Town? Well, it’s a big city and it is indeed beautiful. It’s where the mountains meet the ocean and although I think the area would be better served without a bustling city smack dab in the middle of the mountain’s bowl, it is an agreeable place. It’s winter here which means the weather is chilly, windy, and shrouding the mountains in mist. My two measly days are hardly enough to experience and appreciate what this city and its surrounds have to offer, but I am ready to go back to "Africa".

My Serbian roommate and I planned our hike to the top of Lion's Head perfectly and were able to catch the only break in the gloomy weather.

 Looking south down the rugged coastline

 The occasional breaks in the clouds sent mesmerizing sun rays dancing across the Atlantic.

 Cape Town city with the famed Table Mountain as its backdrop.

 The requisite cheesy sit on a rock in front of a mountain photo - obviously not my first time.

The Cape Town spread seen from Lion's head.

All in all, Cape Town is one heck of a place to start a journey across the continent.