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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Cape Town (South Africa) - The Mother City

CAPE TOWN (South Africa)
15 November - 20 November 2017



What have you been waiting for?

What have we been waiting for?

This city has made so many ‘Must See’ lists, has always charted highly in terms of spectacular destinations, and yet with us, there was no magnetic pull, nothing that inspired anything more than a cursory glance at a map with an occasional thought of, ‘wonder what it would be like down there?’.

It’s extraordinary.  Cape Town is a supermodel. It’s levels of beauty and attractions know no  bounds. The pre-colonial inhabitants of the area would refer to its most notable landmark, Table Top  mountain, as Hoerikwaggo – the mountains in the sea. But stand any day facing the mountains and you’ll almost deem it as a heavenly representation on earth. As the clouds roll off the mountain and cascade down its sides you can be forgiven for thinking that Table Top mountain has in fact pierced that invisible veil between earth and the great unknown.

In many ways the build and make-up of Cape Town should be very familiar to Australians. It commands you to head outdoors and enjoy everything it has to offer, from its abundance of hiking trails, to its 150kms of beaches, to its harbour, to its wild life and vineyards. It’s an outdoor lifestyle that is quite ably bolstered by a reasonable culinary culture and some solid nightlife punctuated by Long Street, Bree Street, Loop Street & the V&A Waterfront. What’s more, due to its reasonably compact setting,  the CBD is readily accessible as are most all of the outdoor activities you’re like to want to experience.


V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa

V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa

V&A Waterfront - Cape Town - South Africa

Tiger's Milk Bar on Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa

Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa


Inga & I occupied a place in the City Bowl on Queen Victoria street. A nice apartment with quick access to Long Street and views out to the eastern edge of Table Top mountain. And of course, with each gorgeous day that came up on us, the sun and the environment cajoled us to getting out and being active, in whatever manner we saw fit. Not that being ‘active’ is any form of problem for either Inga or myself. Anytime there’s a hike, a view to get to or a mountain to climb then Inga’s name will be #1 on the list and my name will be #2.

Our cab off the rank was Lion’s Head, a 669 mtr high peak in the Centre of Cape Town that assists in forming one of the most dramatic backgrounds and exquisite urban landscapes of any city in the world. Second to only Rio de Janeiro, the breathtaking and striking surrounds of the city, framed by Table Mountain, Signal Hill and Lion’s Head (in between the two), stand imperiously, surrounding the centre of Cape Town. Walking in the city centre you are in the midst of these giants constantly, and all you can really do it talk yourself into taking the challenge in order to get some of the best views in the city.


Lion's Head - Cape Town - South Africa

Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa

Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa


The climb up Lion’s Head,  for the most part is straight forward. There’s a few exposed areas, a couple of ladders and some ‘hand over feet action’ but the views it affords those that put in the effort are more than worth it. With views down the coastline to the magnificent beaches of Clifton, Camps Bay and further afield, the Atlantic seaboard is as gorgeous a coastline as you could experience anywhere. Turning through 360 degrees you’re able to see Robben Island, a location that Nelson Mandela would be all too familiar with, the coastline north of the city, east out to the Cape Flats and then back around to the majestic Table Mountain and the accompanying Devil’s Peak.


Looking down to Camps Bay from Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa

Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa

The climb up Lions Head - Cape Town - South Africa

Sea Point and Green Point on the left - Robben Island in the distance - Cape Town CBD on the right


Of course, with an afternoon on the mountain behind you the only way to celebrate is getting down onto Long Street for a few drinks, of which choice of establishment is certainly the least of your concerns. Long Street has bars a plenty, and some good ones at that, they also have  a high degree of nuisance participants. What I mean by that is that numbers of pandhandlers out on the streets ready to irritate you to the point of screaming are exceptionally high. What’s more these guys are so persistent, no in an aggressive way but in a completely annoying and aggravating way. Quite a few times I had to be more than forceful in my words when attempting to ‘move on’ someone in our faces.


Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa

Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa

Our 'go to' nacho meal - just off Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa

Long Street - Cape Town - South Africa


Next on our agenda was the iconic Table Top Mountain, and of course, even though the ‘easy way’ to the top via skyway would have reduced our total time by about 2.5 hours, Inga and I took one of the moderately difficult climbs to the top.

Standing on the road beneath the mountains you can easily undervalue the time and the level of effort that will be asked of you to walk up. Not that the walk is excessively long, from memory it was probably just on an hour, but the further up the side of the mountain you go, the steeper it becomes and the more that your thighs start screaming for mercy with the relentless walk. I say relentless because that’s the manner in which Inga & I usually walk. No stopping, just attack the task head on, accept the pain and rest on completion.

Surprisingly, to us, not to Capetonians, but the area at the top of the mountain is quite expansive and runs quite a distance down the coastline, highlighted by their very own 12 apostles. The Twele Apostles mountain range actually forms the back of Table Mountain and runs basically from Kloof Neck, the saddle between Table Mountain and Lions Head), all the way down to Hout Bay.


Lions Head from the starting point of our climb up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Climbing up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Climbing up Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa


By far the most impressive feature/site on Table Mountain is that during the Summer months its quite often covered by a ‘tablecloth’, this being a blanket of clouds on the actual mountain that seem to role off the edge and cascade down before disappearing. This ‘Magic’ trick of the mountains does in fact have an explanation, of which I need to make direct reference to a website in order to get it right:
One of the most common ways that clouds form is when air with high water vapor content is lifted upward to higher levels above sea level,” he says. “In this case, it looks like the wind is blowing moist air from the Atlantic Ocean upward to the top of Table Mountain. As the air moves upward toward the peak, it cools, and water vapor in the air condenses into the thick clouds you can see in the video.”
The disappearance of the clouds, however, has to do with the “stability” of the atmosphere — that is, whether there’s vertical movement due to warming and cooling air
The site of slowing rolling clouds both on the mountain and then down wards from the peak is unforgettable. Indeed, standing at the observation point high above the city, and for that matter, above the clouds, puts you in an ‘other worldly’ environment. A truly sublime experience.


Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Changing tack the following day, but still sticking to our ‘active sightseeing’ regime, we hired some simple bikes in central Cape Town with the aim of taking somewhat of a leisurely ride. Now let me say, these escapades with Inga always seem to bother me.  The reason for this is simple – in my head I always have a predetermined time duration or km distance that I think will be suitable for us to enjoy and still get the requisite exercise we desire. On this occasion I had visions of a ride down the coast, that I know now would have been around 25kms return. A decent effort…but as per usual, the way Inga pushes, it always takes us into far flung fields of exertion.


Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Table Mountain - Cape Town - South Africa

Our day, on no gear, pedal brake bikes started out pleasantly enough. Cruising down by Camps Bay beach, checking out the Hard Rock Café and then heading down the coastline. Bounded by the glorious 12 Apostles on the one side and the deep blue of the Atlantic on the other. The November day was perfect, beautiful blue skies, easy sunshine, comfortable weather. Totally a pleasurable ride.


Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Hard Rock Cafe - Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

Hard Rock Cafe - Camps Bay Beach - Cape Town - South Africa

When we reached an area known as Oudekraal beach I suggested to Inga a turn around, to which she said, of course, ‘Why? Lets keep going’.  To me a response like this is always like a red flag to a bull…’Oh, you want to keep going do you? Okay, okay…now I’m going to run you into the ground’.  So we rode on.
…And thus we encountered our first steady incline on the road. With each kilometre that passed the gradient increased and our one-speed bikes forced us to work overtime. We climbed all the way from Ouderkrall to Llandudno before we were given an absolute free run down into Mount Rhodes and then Hout Bay. This however was not even the half of it.
The climb up through Hout Bay to one of our newly planned stops, Beau Constantia winery, was absolutely brutal. Slow turning wheels, heavy laden vehicles, endlessly rising gradients. The push up was nasty and was only alleviated by a wine stop at this fantastically located winery which had epic views out over Constantia, all the way out to False Bay and beyond. Hell, even the bathrooms in this place had such striking views that you were more than happy to occupy that seat just ‘a little while’ longer than necessary.


View down the Atlantic Seaboard - with the 12 Apostles as the backdrop

The scenery here is just wonderful

View from the bathroom and Beau Constantia Winery - Constantia - Cape Town - South Africa

Considering we were not in the Constantia region we decided to cruise on down to Groot Constantia. A wonderful estate, featuring as a winery since 1685 and occupying pride place in this suburb of Cape Town. The highlight for us here, other than the rest we’d given to our weary legs, was the wine/chocolate pairings that the winery had constructed. Well balanced and matched on every occasion, a true highlight of any winery that we’ve ever been down.
But sadly, all good things must come to an end. We knew, we a high degree of despondence, that the ride back into Cape Town had the potential to be nasty. And whilst arriving back in the city would effectively complete our unscheduled circuit of Table Top mountain, the 50+km ride on some very average bikes was going to decimate us. And so we rode, back through Constantia, Wynberg, Newlands, Rosebank and Observatory. It really wasn’t until we’d climbed up to University Estate that we were given a free pass for the rest of the ride. The run down back into town was a free wheeling run that was presented to us like an honorary gift, something provided to us in respect for completing a circuit that  was totally unnecessary on the bikes we had.

South Africa - This is not Buenos Aires tour

SOUTH AFRICA
15 November - 13 December 2017




South Africa is not Argentina.

South Africa is not Buenos Aires.

…however it could have been, for us, had we have not decided to take the route less travelled in our peripatetic hearts and minds.

Somewhere in our conversations I recall saying to Inga ‘let me just try something’,  and that ‘try’ meant me having a look at Skyscanner and entering Cape Town as a destination.

Whether it was inspired, divine intervention or however else you want to see it, the flights from Amsterdam to Cape Town were so cheap that not considering an adventure to South Africa would have been a crime to our own senses and good judgement.

This the birth of the ‘This is not Buenos Aires’ tour.

It could have also been called the tour of ‘Rodriguez’, but the story of Sugar Man is now well known.

So here we go, welcome to the fabulous vibrant, diverse, wild and incredibly beautiful South Africa.
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Friday, November 10, 2017

Milan (Italy) - Get Up!

MILAN (Italy)
10 November – 12 November 2017

Another one on our to see  list of performs, Bryan Adams, was performing at the Mediolanum Forum di Assago, near Milan. This wasn’t at all a difficult decision for us. The moment we knew tickets were purchased, flights to Milan were booked and accommodation reserved right next to the venue at half decent Royal Garden Hotel, all of 280mtrs away. SORTED.

We had a pretty basic plan but often they’re the best.

Fly into Milan. Hire a car. Take a day trip up to Lake Como. Got to Milan that evening for a bit of a look around, hit the concert the next day and fly back to Riga before anyone knew we were actually out of town.


Riga - Latvia
On the way to Milan


Lake Como - Italy


Lake Como - Italy


Lake Como - Italy

Driving out of Milan airport and heading the 50+kms north to Lake Como introduced us to certain peculiarities and odd features of the Milan ‘topography’. 

The first was the inordinate proliferation of roundabouts. It was as if all the redundant and inconsequential roundabouts on this planet were sent en masse to inhabit, live and breed in Milan. It was unlike anything I’d ever witnessed before. It was as if  love affair of the Milanese had gone far deeper than just that. It had developed into an addiction and then mutated into a violent sort of illness from which recovery could never be possible. It was genuinely alarming.


Lake Como - Italy


Lake Como - Italy


Woman are multi-taskers - it's obvious


Lake Como - Italy


Second, somewhere on our drive through the back-burbs of Milan we encountered a prostitute haven in the woods. Every second bend was occupied by scantly clad women whose booty mass was on show for all passers by. Both odd and amusing, it was 10-15kms worth of roadside wares for the frisky Italiano, or whomever else was passing by. I've never experienced a stretch of road like it in my life.

After beating the roundabouts and prostitutes we made it to the gloriously picturesque Lake Como, in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, and were fortunate enough to have delivered a glorious mid-November day that made sightseeing absolutely delightful.


Lake Como - Italy


Lake Como - Italy


Lake Como - Italy


Set against the foothills of the Alps the lake is shaped like an upside-down Y. We drove from the town of Como up to one of the major points of Bellagio where we stopped to take in the views and walk through the quaint town prior to having a wine or two with a bit of light lunch.

That evening we decided to go and check out a little bit of Milan, and as seems to be the case with me fairly often I’ve discovered, the places that I’d either had prejudices against, or had heard bad things about, are often the ones that seem to impress. On this occasion my impression of Milan had come from family who had made their own assessment that Milan was a nothing place…well, to that I say, let me introduce you to Linea Traghetti Gaggiano Milano. This canal just a little outside of the city centre is just a mecca for nightlife with bars, restaurants and more bars filling the promenade for what felt like kms.  It was outstanding!


Linea Traghetti Gaggiano Milano - Milan - Italy



Linea Traghetti Gaggiano Milano - Milan - Italy


Linea Traghetti Gaggiano Milano - Milan - Italy


The centre of Milan itself also had some attractions. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the time to take it all in and appreciate what was there but as a place to come back to, definitely. It was obvious from first brush that the city is built around fashion & style. Whilst still being the industrial capital of the north there is more than enough to keep the visitor engaged and intrigued for some time. So Milan, apologies, I judgement of you was completely unfair and I stand correct against my initial assessment.

BRYAN ADAMS – GET UP!

I forget how many times I’ve seen BA play live but I think it’s close to six or seven.
No matter what your opinion is of his music, whether you like him or not, his live performances are always outstanding and he delivers. Looking back over all the performers that we’d seen, there’s not one artist that gets close to delivering 29 songs in a set. The next best, from memory, were the Foo Fighters who performed for 3hrs in Riga, (26 songs).


Bryan Adams - Get Up! Tour -  Mediolanum Forum di Assago - Italy


Bryan Adams - Get Up! Tour -  Mediolanum Forum di Assago - Italy


Bryan Adams - Get Up! Tour -  Mediolanum Forum di Assago - Italy


Bryan Adams - Get Up! Tour -  Mediolanum Forum di Assago - Italy


Bryan Adams - Get Up! Tour -  Mediolanum Forum di Assago - Italy


Here’s the set-list for the night.

Artist: Bryan Adams
Location:  Medionlanum Forum di Assago, Assago.