When we were planning our holiday, I determined I would again be taking a side trip to Cape Town for my own private retreat. After countless hours of research into the innumerable guest houses on dozens of different beaches, I settled for Aromasun Guest House on Sunset Beach just north of town. Not only was it a stunningly beautiful house that backed up to the beach, but it also boasted an in-house massage therapist! Sunset Beach also has the added benefit of being north along the coast from Cape Town and offers some of the most spectacular views of Table Mountain herself.
I was delighted to find out while booking my room, that one of the owners was a woman originally from St Cloud, MN (I did my Masters work at St Cloud State Univ). We chatted a couple of times back and forth via email while making the arrangements for the stay, and I asked if there was anything I could bring her from the US. Without hesitation, she stated Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!
Upon arrival, and delivery of the Reese's, I checked into my more than comfortable room. It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised, and the room and house far exceeded my expectations. It is notable that I felt compelled to take a picture of the bathroom. How fabulous to have your bathroom open up to the beach breezes!
The Cape area is part of its own floral kingdom, and has botanical diversity unmatched anywhere else on earth. With over 9000 species of plants, 6200 occur nowhere else in the world but the western Cape portion of South Africa. The fynbos vegetation just adds to the uniqueness of the Cape environs.
Table Mountain looms dramatically over the city bowl of Cape Town, but takes on numerable moods and looks as the time of day and weather change. Some photos were taken from the beach, and some from the rooftop vantage of the guest house.
The above image is an example of the cloud “tablecloth” that often spills down over the top of the mountain.
Cape Town is also one of the most bustling ports in the world, and while the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is a huge tourist attraction for fine food and shopping, the harbor still goes on about its business of shipping along one of the world's busiest trade routes. The grace of the Victorian age is apparent in the architecture. The Clock Tower is 125 years old.
Here the pedestrian bridge has been pulled back to allow a ship to leave port. There was a seal swimming under the bridge area, and they are quite common in the harbor, but he dove at the anticipation of a ship coming through and I missed my opportunity to take his picture.
Looking out my window over the ocean to Robben Island (made famous by being the imprisonment camp for Nelson Mandela and a host of other political prisoners), I was hoping to see the elusive green flash as the sun set. Regretfully, I did not. But the view was still spectacular.
--Doni
