From Sussex To Cape Town - A Smooth Journey South
Our adventure to South Africa got off to the best possible start. We were on the bus by 12.50pm, with everything running exactly to plan. The train to Gatwick was on time, our flight to Istanbul departed as scheduled, and so did our connecting flight to Cape Town, South Africa. Travelling doesn't always go this smoothly, so we couldn’t complain!
We flew Turkish Airlines and were genuinely impressed. Despite flying Economy, it felt surprisingly luxurious, with hot towels, proper metal cutlery and a delicious three-course meal, complete with a glass of red wine. The service was excellent, and on the second flight to Cape Town we were treated to another three-course meal, along with a goody bag, cosy blankets and superb in-flight entertainment. Before we even landed, breakfast was served, another three-course affair, so by the time we arrived we'd certainly eaten well. We literally rolled off the plane!
After managing to get a reasonable amount of sleep, we landed in Cape Town to rather gloomy weather. Passport control took around an hour, but our driver was waiting to take us straight to our hotel at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. (Not Victoria and Albert, as I first thought! It's actually named after Queen Victoria and her son, Alfred. That could make a good quiz question!)
We checked into what was quite a large apartment early before heading out to explore. Thankfully, the rain had eased and the sun even started to make an appearance. One of the first things we did was buy Cape Town City Passes, which should save us money on many visits over the next few days.
To get our bearings, we hopped aboard the hop-on-hop-off bus for the full two hour route around the city. It was a brilliant introduction to Cape Town and gave us plenty of ideas for places to revisit later in the week.
No first day would be complete without a wander through the waterfront. We stumbled across a very big artisan market filled with handmade crafts and artwork and yes... the Christmas shopping has already begun!
After all that exploring, it was definitely time for a drink. We found a fantastic indoor food market with dozens of food and drink stalls surrounding long communal tables. Mark had a well earned beer, while I sampled a delicious local full-bodied red wine, which went perfectly with a steak and potatoes dinner.
Not a bad way to spend our first day in Cape Town.