Ahhhh.....

The epic day of travel just 24 hours before seems but a distant memory after our first day in Cape Town. We certainly have hit the jackpot with our accommodation. Far enough from the glitz and glamour of the V&A (Victoria and Alfred) Waterfront to not attract a ridiculous price tag but still within walking distance puts the Harbour Edge Apartments on my newly created highly recommended list of places to stay in Cape Town. There is also a supermarket and bottle shop just up the road too. What more do you want? 

After an understandably slow start to the day, we headed down to the V & A (Cape Town's equivalent to Sydney's Darling Harbour) to check out the sights - plenty of shops, restaurants, street buskers and tourists all set in and around a working harbour. During our meanderings, we stumbled upon the historic Jetty 1 site. This small, unassuming building and jetty was the point from which thousands of prisoners departed the South African mainland for notorious Robben Island - where it's most famous political prisoner Nelson Mandela was gaoled for nearly 30 years. It was obviously under renovation but there were some interesting displays including a room which had its walls covered in copies of letters from family and friends of prisoners, pleading with Authorities to have their applications for visitor permits approved. We are taking the ferry to Robben Island tomorrow so we'll find out more about the history of the place but this free  little museum certainly gave us a taste of the extreme hardship the prisoners and their families were subjected to under the apartheid regime.

Our day's wanderings around V & A finished with a late lunch at Hildebrand Italian and Seafood restaurant. 5 seafood meals, drinks and a bottle of wine, all for only ZAR750 (about $85) plus tip is pretty good in my books. We have since warned the kids though that we have started on a high and the quality of accommodation and meals will only be all down hill after Cape Town (barring the wedding of course)!!

What can't be ignored is the presence of Cape Town's most famous landmark, Table Mountain. It literally dominates the backdrop of everything in the city. Table Mountain strikes an imposing statement across the city and I am reminded much of how I felt when I first saw Uluru, such is the magnificence of its scale that no picture or photo can prepare you for. The cable car trip to the top is on our list if things to do here over the next few days.