Ohhh breakfast.. the most important meal of the day. The hostel recommended us to check out Cafe Sofia which was located on Kloof Street. We walked up there and knew we made the right choice, again, when our order arrived. Toast, eggs, bacon and amazing coffee, all for only R28 per person....perfect!
Did I mention 2 eggs? Okay enough with the big breakfast. To burn all that calories we packed on, we walked to the Waterkant. The one thing that didn’t work out yesterday because we got distracted by U2. Blame them!
It was a scenic walk. Cape Town is a pretty town.
Every time we looked back we’d see the Table Mountain as a backdrop. We couldn’t stop taking photos.
There it was, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront or, for short, Waterfront. Apparently it’s a great example of how to best redevelop a declining dock area into a tourist hot spot.
- Excerpt taken from Cape Town City Guide, Lonely Planet -
Back in the days of the VOC, De Waterkant was known as the Gallows Hill. This was where slaves were executed and buried in unmarked graves. Later freed slaves settled here, as they did in the Bo Kaap (a predominantly Muslim area), but after the introduction of the Group Areas Act in the 1950s these families were forcibly removed, just like the ones in District Six and De Waterkant became a whites-only area.
And, now back to how the rest of the day went....
The atmosphere at the V&A Waterkant is always buzzing and there’s plenty to do and see. Tribal dancing, local school orchestra, postcard shopping, grab something to eat or not forgetting the infamous Robben Island.
Paul has been talking about visiting the Robben Island ever since we planned to visit Cape Town. The tickets always gets sold out, so we had to make sure we get a chance to go there. Unfortunately, as expected the tickets were sold out for the day, but there’s always tomorrow...especially when you’re still in Cape Town! This was top on our to-do list. We got our tickets for tomorrow and to celebrate we grabbed an ice cream and sat under the sun and enjoyed the rest of our day.
We walked around and enjoyed the windy sea breeze of the Waterfront . Also watched some vessels sail into the dock while the bridge opens up to make way for them to pass through.
People watching a bit, post card shopping for a bit...you get the drift don’t you... we were enjoying the whole touristy thing.
Like all good things, we wrapped day 3 and walked back to our hostel.
Like any eager traveller, we dashed out of our hostel to greet Cape Town in the morning.
Ahhh.. the sun and the wind was amazing. We walked towards a highly recommended German breakfast place on Loop Street. See, tips like this you’d only get them at a hostel.
It was a grand breakfast. Omelette wrapped in warm croissant and good coffee.
That’s not all, we were facing the iconic Table Mountain.
It was another warm welcome.
After a hearty breakfast we spent a good 4 hours in an internet cafe. Yes, weird but true. Paul had some work to do and I just made use of the time to check emails.
After a few productive work hours, we headed towards the Waterkant. Now, doesn’t that sound Dutch? I don’t speak a lot of Dutch, but I surely can tell if it ‘sounds like Dutch’ if I hear it. But it was Afrikaans.
Paul enjoying his breakfast with a view.
Some interesting facts on the Afrikaan language.
( Information gained from various sources on the internet)
Afrikaans, the only Germanic to have evolved outside Europe. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch. Although Afrikaans borrowed from languages such as Malay, Portuguese, French,
the Bantu languages or the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95 percent of Afrikaans vocabulary is ultimately of Dutch origin.
The Afrikaans first developed as a medium of communication between the indigenous Khoi San people and the Whites, Malays, Indians and West African blacks who were brought to Cape Town.
The word Afrikaans in Dutch means “African”. Afrikaans was created in Cape Town, which is home to various nationalities.
Back to our trip to Waterkant .....
As we were heading towards the Waterkant, we noticed a large group of people walking towards the opposite direction of the bay. Not long after we found out that the large crowd was heading to the U2 Concert! YES! U2 was in Cape Town.
Now, going back to U2, we walked heading to the Green Point Stadium, joining hundreds of people in their excitement. We on the other hand had no tickets but were still hopeful, though I knew it was a very slim chance.
I asked one of the U2 fans if they knew where we could still get tickets from and he suggested hanging around the park close to the stadium. If lucky enough, some strange guy might approach us with an ‘attractive’ offer.
We didn’t opt for that route instead just kept on walking towards the Stadium while taking in the festive mood.
Huge banners and signs of U2 lined the path to the stadium. Mini concerts, loud speakers, barbeque grills and beers made the ambience thriving.
We took in as much as we could, because I knew deep inside, I was too late in getting a ticket (sigh)
The good part was, we could sit outside the stadium and watch hundreds of people prepare themselves for U2. We planned to have our own little U2 concert outside of the stadium joining the ones who didn’t make it in.
The view from the stadium. It sits between Table Mountain and Robben Island.
The stadium was quite a sight when it was lit up. Paul went crazy with the camera. He took hundreds of photos. I had no clue he would be so interested in the stadium, apparently, largely due to the fact it was the official FIFA world cup stadium!
We hung out and waited for U2 to perform. We waited and waited from 6 ish to 8.30pm...I was feeling chilly. The wind was rather strong. I wasn’t prepared for this weather. Well, that’s what happens when you make decisions in split second, (ok.. I) switched plans from Waterkant to U2 concert when we heard they were in town.
After a long chilly wait, we gave in and walked back. As we were 15minutes down the road, we heard loud cheering....we knew it was them! We then walked back to the stadium only to realise that it was a false alarm. And we walked back towards the hostel again...another 10 minutes, we heard the cheering again... this time followed by U2’s singing.
What do you think we did? Yup. We came this far and waited this long.. so we went back to get a whiff of U2’s concert. We sat closer to the stadium this time around and enjoyed all their super songs. Sang along and made some cool videos.
There we were, in Cape Town, listening to U2 perform LIVE for FREE!
And that’s how the second day ended.
Ps: I guess I was hoping half way during the concert the securities might loosen up and somehow we could get in. Well it worked out for me when Michael Jackson performed the second day in KL. I paid for his Day 1 concert and got in free on the 2nd day.Don’t ask me how. It’s the Jayaretnam’s little secret.
pss: Gosh it's so much effort to get the story up on blog, the reduction of images, the standardization of font type..and still not getting the final look desired. Well... hope you guys enjoy reading. Please share your thoughts in the comments section!
There it was, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront or, for short, Waterfront. Apparently it’s a great example of how to best redevelop a declining dock area into a tourist hot spot.
xcerpt taken from Cape Town City Guide, Lonely Planet -
