We finished, and took the property pages back up to the room to read whilst we relaxed.
At 11:40am we headed off for our exploratory walk - me with a heavy backpack full of camera, water, and SS's bits and pieces. It was a beautiful day, and we headed down Kloof Street and then Long Street passed interesting shops and old architecture.
Long Street is the very busy night area for backpackers and students, and in the morning is quite quiet I guess because everyone is in bed still so workers were taking the opportunity to do some maintenance.
We were heading for the market at Greenmarket to look at curios. It was very touristy, and that is where we ran into our first hawkers - the very pushy Big Issue guys in Cape Town.
Most Big Issue guys I have seen in the UK and in Australia have been quite restrained, displaying their magazines and just saying "Big Issue!" every now and then. I do recall the one on Martin Place in Sydney had a particular way of saying "Beeg EESHyouuuuuuuuu" which was quite unique, but none of them were like the guys in Africa. Their catch phrase to SS was "Are you German?". We had 3 separate guys come up in the space of 10 minutes and ask him that. I was thinking he should have just spoken German and that might have got rid of them. They were very pushy and fake friendly, trying to have a conversation and make you take the magazine, so that when you had it in your hand they would refuse to take it back and make you pay for it. We quickly got used to saying "We are not going to buy a Big Issue" and then they would quickly run off and hassle someone else.
We didn't buy anything, and headed off to the old Cape Coloured Quarter where it had now been gentrified and was very expensive - all the old slave cottages had been redeveloped and the area around was full of nice shops, bars and interior design consultants.
On the way between on Strand Street however, you do have to walk past what has not changed since when I lived there - large bottle shops with loads of men just sitting outside it in the middle of the day, doing.... nothing.
The Quarter is lovely, and SS was very taken with it.
Prices reflected the ritzy nature of the are however.
We continued down to Somerset and then on to the V&A - we were certainly alone walking on the streets, and I was keeping my rucksack close to me. We got down there, and found a helpful map.
Heading into the cool interior was a relief, and we found a lovely shop called Melissa's where we got some juice and crisps and then found a Woolworths so I could have my photo taken for old times sake.
We also went into Pick n Pay, so I could get an idea of prices - particularly meat prices, which just made me want to cry compared to prices in the UK.
We went outside and sat in the sun to eat our crisps and fruit, listening to the live music and watching people go by. I think this is probably when our heads got sunburnt...
Finishing up, we were quite tired, so we walked out, finally found a taxi, and headed back to African Villa. R50 well spent to get back there.
We lay on the sunloungers for an hour or so by the pool, then headed in. I had a bath as my legs were quite tired after all the walking (probably my first bath in about 2 years!).
We shared a beer, then dressed and headed to the Mount Nelson for a drink before our dinner at the Opal Lounge.
After a few wrong turns, a little child on a bike gave us directions to the hotel, and in we went. I was a bit nervous just walking up and demanding a drink, particularly as we were coming in the tradesman's entrance, but SS just did his usual manly thing.
We settled into the conservatory part of the bar (called Planet), which was beautiful, and ordered a voda tonic and a tanqueray and tonic. It came with some nibbles which we hoed into as well, and was the most beautiful, relaxing setting, surrounded by well dressed people and good service.
We had a small wager as to how much the bill would come to, particularly based on London prices and our lack of experience... I bet R200, SS went for R150. The bill was R68! About £6. Amazing.
We would have liked to stay for hours really, but instead we had to head over to the Opal Lounge for dinner.
This was a lovely place - a refurbished old house divided into restaurant rooms. We were seated in one of the front rooms near the window. (I did take loads of photos but as mentioned, my card corrupted :-( ).
We were greeted by the owner who was South African but had lived in Scotland for 8 years - she told us how much she missed the snow! We then met our "server" Jonathon, who was a little obsequious but well meaning - but more of that later. He made some suggestions for his favourite courses (which we largely ignored) and then left us with the menus.
We ended up ordering a bottle of Peter Falke Cab Sav 2003, and I ordered the prawn and avacado caesar salad to start and then the beef fillet. SS had the same starter (since they were out of his first choice) and then the seared tuna.
The started was a deconstructed salad, with cos lettuce leaves threaded through a bagel crisp, and a pile of prawn and avocado like a prawn cocktail really with a parmesan crisp on top. Very nice though.
My main was stunning, and SS loved his seared tuna also.
Jonathon had made some very noisy noises behind us to the other table about how he preferred tips in cash rather than on the card as that took over a month to be divided up to the staff and so he did not see the benefit of it.
Bill was R854, most of which was wine at R360 as SS also had a glass of Ackerman Pinotage after the meal whilst I had a green tea.
Got back OK - SS was a bit tiddly and needed some direction at the corners on the way back, and we settled into our bed watching the last 20 minutes of Monty Python's Meaning of Life. Then off to sleep...
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