An Amazing 4.5 Months in Cape Town
We arrived in Cape Town on June 6th, after a whirlwind of activity selling our house in Houston, filling a storage unit with what’s left of our household, moving our daughter to Los Angeles, selling our cars and a boat, and saying goodbye to all of our friends (for now). We relaxed once we boarded the flight to Cape Town.
The first several weeks were very busy with design meetings at the Balance factory, hikes to the three Cape Town landmarks: Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, and Signal Hill, and dinners with other Balance owners waiting the launch of their boats. Cape Town is the most beautiful and amazing city built around these famous landmarks along the seaside.
Cape Town was settled by the Dutch in the early 1600’s to create a waylay station for ships traveling between Europe and India and Asia. The Dutch influence is strong and seen in the architecture, names, food, the local Afrikans language, etc. The British stepped in and took over during the Napolianic era introducing British culture and Queen’s English. Cape Town is a dynamic combination of its African roots, the Dutch, and British and the many nationalities that have migrated here over the centuries. (There is a great history of Cape Town in James Michner’s The Covenant.) Although South Africa has pockets of political tension, the Western Cape province where Cape Town is located, is friendly, calm, a very dynamic agriculture and business center, and a popular international tourist destination.
The people we have met here are very welcoming and full of personality, humor and joy. We walk everywhere and have found that it makes the days much more enjoyable when we don’t have to worry about parking or fuel. Days here are generally sunny despite it being winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Temperatures range from 45-70F and usually very pleasant. From time to time, a front rolls through bringing rain for 24 hours, and feeding the beautiful tropical scenery and farms.
We have spent about half of our stay at the V&A Waterfront Marina apartments and the other half either traveling or renting one of the trending historic houses in the Cape Quarter area which has a Soho feel. (See Our Favorite Places for details on where we stayed.) Cape Town has been such a wonderful experience, we are sad to see our time come to an end but ready to move to the next phase of our adventure. We will miss Cape Town and definitely plan to return.