Table Mountain
Friday, January 6
Today Lenore and I enjoyed a scenic tour on the “Red” line of the Hop On – Hop Off City Bus tour. This is a great tourist service that is offered in Cape Town. The double decker bus travels throughout the city with a guided tour. There are many stops along the way and you can hop on or off as you wish to take in the many sights.
We met up with Lisa and Linton in the late afternoon and set off on our evening’s adventure on top of Table Mountain.
Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain that dominates the skyline behind the city of Cape Town. The city itself lies nestled between the Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean. A long (and rather unnerving) cable car ride, transports you to the top of the mountain in a matter of minutes. It is ultra state-of-the-art and rotates so that everyone gets a view out of its glass sides.
Once at the top, what a panorama lay before us. Literally miles of hiking trails along the top of the mountain, with beautifully sculptures pathways to follow, a visitor’s centre and a restaurant where we would return for dinner later.
We were fortunate this afternoon as the sky was clear and the winds were low. This is often not the case in Cape Town. The wind howls down off of the mountain causing very windy conditions which often preclude the cable car from operating. On top of that, often a strange layer of cloud lies over the top of the mountain. The locals call it “the Tablecloth”. It is a very strange phenomenon that looks like a living thing creeping over the mountain and falling over the sides. If either of these conditions exist you are ill advised to go up the mountain. Every year there are several people who are blown off the mountain or are stranded overnight in very harsh conditions.
On this day however it was a glorious day and we enjoyed a gentle stroll around the top, found a sunny spot to enjoy a glass of wine and watched the glorious sunset from this high vantage point. Simply breathtaking.
We stayed until after dark to enjoy the panorama of city lights below us on our descent on the cable car. Funny. The ride down after a few glasses of wine didn’t seem to bother me at all!
Tags: Uncategorized
Morag