Cape Town Day 3

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

If every church had this many goodies, I think I'd go more often!

We had a jam packed day today in lovely, sunny Cape Town. As today was Sanjin's day off, we were treated to an insider's tour of the absolute best in hipster hangouts in and around the Cape. We went to two different local markets, the first was run out of a local church and offered a variety of homemade dishes for lunch and breakfast. The church's basement held a cornucopia of vintage dresses, blouses, purses and jewelry that caught Maja's eye. Luckily, she only left with one small item, a cute white purse that I've been told is a "clutch, not a purse."

After this brief stopover, we drove to a much bigger marketplace, Cape Town's famous Biscuit Mill. This was like the last market on steroids. It offered basically all the same food but even more so. Everything you could ever want was for sale there, fresh cuts of meat and sausage, baked goods, cheeses, vegetables, jams and honeys, and yes, even shwarma. It seems that everywhere we go, you can ALWAYS find a shwarma, it may not be the same kind of sandwich you're used to back home, but it always goes by the same name. The highlight of this outing was Mike's introduction to biltong, a local South African cured and dried meat that very similar to beef jerky. He bought two bags to snack on for the afternoon/evening and they were both gone within the hour!

SHWARMA!!!

Sanjin also gave a tour of the local shops surrounding the Biscuit Mill which each sold unique and handcrafted items. The most interesting of these shops was called ReCreate which took old antiques and repurposed them. For example, they would take old suitcases, open them up, sew in cushions, add four sturdy legs and turn them into a comfortable chair. They added an old mirror to the top of a washbasin and made it into a stylish coffee table. The store was full of these amazing ideas!

Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town

Our tour concluded with a stop to the Rhodes memorial at the base of Table Mountain. Rhodes is a famous British entrepreneur who fell in love with South Africa and was key in helping with its development. He is also the man behind the world's most famous scholarship, the Rhodes Scholarship. Sanjin also brought us to the beautiful University of Cape Town's campus where we were treated to a gorgeous view of the city.


We ended our day with a rugby match between the reigning league champions, the Hamilton Chiefs from New Zealand, and the local West Cape Stormers. The crowds were enormous and rowdy at this match and it was quite exciting. It was a close game throughout, with the home team narrowly edging out a victory at 36-34. It was loads of fun and it left Mike wondering why professional rugby has never taken off in Canada? Surely it would be more successful than the CFL?!?

The Hamilton Chiefs prepare to boot the ball towards the beloved West Cape Stormers!

Our evening came to a close as we went for dinner at a local burger restaurant called "Beefcakes." The sounds of Madonna and the Spice Girls welcomed us as we sat down to be served by topless men, surrounded by pink flamingoes and bachelorette parties. We were told that Maja might have to save Mike throughout the night as this was a well known gay bar. The atmosphere was definitely a blast and the ostrich burgers were also top notch (Maja also had no complaints about our chiseled, topless waiter... at least Mike didn't hear any).


And so went day three of our South Africa adventure!
Namaste,
M&M