Cape Town Vistas

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa in the dark of the morning on April 4 (Day 80). Cape Town was a favorite port for many on the ship because we docked right downtown, within walking distance of a very nice shopping and restaurant area. I joined many of my fellow guests and staff to take advantage of it as a place to pick up a few things after a long spell with few options.

The part of the City of Cape Town where we docked is nestled between the sea and the very impressive Table Mountain, which we could see in front of us from our ship.

Mountains surround the harbor seemingly on all sides. The sunrise from the harbor was one of the best so far.

The weather was perfect for a morning excursion up Table Mountain. First, we drove through parts of the city, then began to ascend the mountain in the bus.

We were above the fog looking down:

We then arrived at the station and travelled the final way up in the cable car.

The city was visible from the car as we went up. The floor of the cable car actually rotated 360 degrees as we went up, so that everyone got a chance for a good view.

The top of Table Mountain was amazing. Lots of rocky space to walk around, with views in all directions. I spent the time pretty much in awe, and will share a few of the pictures I took.

Table Mountain is named as one of the 7 New Wonders of the Natural World, and I was pretty impressed. Learning this got me looking to see about other Wonders of the Natural World.

Turns out that the original 7 wonders of the natural world are: Northern Lights, Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, Victoria Falls and the Volcano of Paricutin Mexico.

Then, there is a competing list, the 7 new wonders of the natural world, which includes: the Amazon; Halong Bay, Vietnam; Yazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil; Jeju Island, South Korea; Komodo, Indonesia; Puerto Princesa Underground River, Philippines; and Table Mountain, South Africa. Seems like there is a bit of competition going on for natural wonders, but either way, I’m pretty impressed by Table Mountain, a wonder of the natural world right in an urban area.