Days 2 & 3 in Cape Town

The exploration of Cape Town continues!

I got used to my dorm a bit, the hostel is very nice and constitutes a good base for my expeditions in the city. I even met 2 very nice people from my room (a swiss and a south african) whom I went for drinks with yesterday night, so I feel pretty good here.

Yesterday, after a little tour in a park (Company's garden), I went for a free walking tour with a guide to a very typical neighbourhood called Bo Kaap. This is historically the first muslim area of Cape Town (Islam started developping in South Africa among the slaves brought there by the dutch, also to oppose the religion of their Christian masters). It survived the apartheid, so it is still today a main muslim neighbourhood with loads of mosques (although gentrification is now around the corner). Its specificity is the beautiful coloured building found there:

Apparently those colors appeared in 1990 as a sign of celebration, when Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison (he was imprisoned on Robben Island, just in front of Cape Town).

The combination pretty houses + view on the Table Mountains is breathtaking... the prices of the buildings here are skyrocketing.

 

After the visit, I walked a bit, to get to Sea Point (which as you could guess is at the ocean) and enjoy the sunset there.

Day 3

Today was a hiking day! I decided to climb on top of two hills above Cape Town, Lion's Head, and Signal Hill.  

 

Signal Hill is in the middle here, and Lion's Head on the right.

 

I started with Lion's head because it's the hardest (660 meters high), and I could then enjoy a nice sunset on Signal Hill later, which is apparently a famous spot for it. Lion's Head is a pretty steep hike, half climbing towards the end.

Lion's head ascension begins

 

I reached the top pretty exhausted, but the view was definitely worth it!

Table Mountains on one side...

And the ocean on the other!

I took a little break up there, to eat something and enjoy dominating Cape Town!

The island you can see at the top of this last picture is Robben island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. On the right you can see Signal Hill, where I went next following the path visible next to the road. 

I reached there an hour and a half before sunset, took a little nap, and watched a few people paragliding there: 

 

 

The view was pretty gorgeous, and it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen!

I went back to the hostel pretty exhausted, tomorrow will be a more relaxed day!