Pools of Liquid Gold

On Saturday, Jeff and I drove down to Cape Point, which is part of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Cape Point is the second southern-most tip of Africa; Cape Agulhas, to the east, is the farthest point south. Many people don’t realize that there are actually two points on this peninsula – Cape Point, and Cape of Good Hope, which is just a touch to the north and west of Cape Point.

We drove down the east side of the peninsula, which looks out over False Bay, and passed Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, Simon’s Town, ending with a drive through the reserve to reach Cape Point. Since we’d just spent the better part of two days in the car, we decided against taking the funicular up the hill and walked instead. The walk takes you up to the old lighthouse, from which there are beautiful views of the rugged coastline.

Then we decided to walk further out the point to the new lighthouse on Dias Point. The walk hugs the side of the mountain, and verges on being harrowing. But it was still a nice walk. The new lighthouse was built because the old one was a little too high and tended to become overly shrouded in fog. The new one (built in 1919) is closer to the level of ships at sea.

We hopped back in the car and drove around to the Cape of Good Hope, where we opened a bottle of wine, and watched the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean. It was a brilliant sunset, and as the sun reached the water and sank lower and lower, it looked like a pool of liquid gold on the water. Gorgeous.

The next evening, after a day of sightseeing and shopping, we drove to Camps Bay, a trendy little beach on the Atlantic Ocean side. We got there early enough in the late afternoon to snag a table at an ocean-facing restaurant, drank some cold beers, and watched another stunning sunset. We enjoyed a nice meal, walked on the beach in the dark for a few minutes (I stuck my feet in the cold, cold Atlantic water, but only briefly), and then drove back to our backpackers’ hostel in Cape Town.

Again, I’ll post photos when I get some from Jeff. I still can’t believe I left my camera in Jozi…