The Tavern of the Sea: The Cape of Good Hope, Simon's Town, and Stellenbosch

My newest Saturday adventure began way to early in the morning. At 8:30. You have to understand that this is painful for me on the weekends, as Saturdays are the only days in which I usually can catch up on my sleep. However, it is worth waking up early here in this mountainous paradise because it is so scenic.

This mountain range you see here is along Camp's Bay-the equivalent of Beverly Hills, California. It is very expensive here but very scenic and pretty. It's on the backside of Table Mountain. The Mountain range was named the 12 apostles, because some Dutch guy named it so, after this place was established. The town has grown drastically and none of the buildings you see here were there 100 years ago. This town also had a resident donkey and horse (named Donkey and Philly respectively) who used to roam around the town begging for food. They became so well known, local wives started baking them carrot cakes daily.

If you keep driving along the coast you will eventually reach Simon's Town-where the penguins live. The one's in the photo above are baby penguins who haven't developed their proper tuxedo like attire. They are called "baby blues" because they look bluish in the light. South African penguins are on the endangered list unfortunately because there are less than 10,000 of them left due to predators and people.

Cute and cuddly. They are about to go fishing for the young.

Isn't he cute trying to cool off a bit?

The coast nearing the nature reserve at the Cape of Good Hope. The nature reserve is home to all sorts of wild animals, shrubs, and educational centers.

The Nature reserve-at the edge of the coast.

Ice plant! (Technical name is sour fig)

I got excited when I saw this because these are also located in California!! I used to play with this as a young girl when I was living in California. Proof that pangea existed!!

African Ostriches. Very dumb. The size of their brain is so small you can fit their brains on a tea spoon.

Baboon (female who also happens to be pregnant)

They're mischievous. Be aware.

Cape of Good Hope Peninsula (at the top of the lighthouse tower) walking up was so exhausting.

Stellenbosch!

A large university is here where they only speak Afrikaans. Afrikaans for those of you who don't know is a language that is a form of Dutch. Dutch of course was brought here by the Dutch sailors who forced the people to speak Dutch, however, over time the people modified the language a bit (similarly to how French is different in different francophone countries around the world) and it became known as Afrikaans. It's a very interesting language to hear. This is a shop along a quaint little street in Stellenbosch.

Anura Vineyards. Excellent wine here. Better than Groot Constantia, and much younger too. Anura is a latin derivative meaning "Frog" so naturally their mascot is the frog.