It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the country's second-largest city, after Johannesburg, and the largest in the Western Cape. The city is part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality.
The city is known for its harbor, its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by The New York Times and similarly by The Daily Telegraph in 2016.
Located on the shore of Table Bay, the City Bowl area of Cape Town is the oldest urban area in the Western Cape, with a significant cultural heritage. It was founded by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a supply station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the VOC Cape Colony, the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in southern Africa.
The metropolitan area has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, which includes False Bay, and extends to the Hottentots Holland mountains to the east. The Table Mountain National Park is within the city boundaries and there are several other nature reserves and marine-protected areas within, and adjacent to, the city, protecting the diverse terrestrial and marine natural environment.
Active Dry Dock
This day Diane and I each did separate excursions. I began with the cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain. We had been cautioned that due to frequent high winds, often a museum was substituted in lieu of going to the top of the mountain. We were fortunate the winds were not excessive; however, the clouds were so low that once we arrived at the top, we had so little visibility that we could only see a few feet in front of us!
Our appointment at the lower lift station was at 9 AM. When we arrived, the top the mountain was hidden in clouds/fog.
Look down into the "bowl" from the lower terminal
View looking up the steep slope into the clouds
There are only two cable cars, functioning opposite of each other (one up while the other down). You can see the visibility at the top is next to zero.
The cars are unique in that the floor (only) rotates 360 degrees as it moves from full down to full up and vice versa
Several views of the "bowl" as we ascended
Pictures from the top were not viewable due to thick clouds/fog
We stopped for refreshments on our bus ride back to the ship
The clouds/fog began to lift in the afternoon (wouldn't you know it!)
Base lift station
Strong telephoto lens
We were NOT able to leave Cape Town at 6 PM as scheduled due to exceptionally high winds. The next morning (still in port!) the clouds and fog on Table Mountain had fully lifted. Even if we would have been allow to get off the ship (immigrations had closed out our visas the evening prior and we had use the lift tickets), the wind would have prohibited us from using the lift. 😢
Diane went on her excursion to a botanical garden and vineyard
One-hundred Sixty-year old Japanese miniature tree
Vineyard tour and sampling
"Back side" of Table Mountain
It was that evening we learned of the high winds that confined us to Cape Town. We ended up waiting 30 hours to safely clear the port, eliminating our next port call, Luderitz, Namibia.
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