On The Waterfront

It is our custom to get out and explore our new neighborhood as soon as possible. It's also a terrific antidote to jet lag and time zone adjustments. Here in Capetown we are GMT+1 which is about 10 hours ahead of Southern California.

Day one of exploring revealed that we have a number of cool looking cafes and pubs connected to or near our apartment building but today's objective was to head down to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (know as the V&A). It is an easy walk of about a mile, a good stretch of the legs after being seated in coach for the long flights.

 The waterfront was first built at Table Bay  by the Dutch East India Company as a place for their ships to restock with fresh food and water on the way to and from the East Indies. Later with the arrival and subsequent takeover by the British, the waterfront was expanded and a breakwater created to protect the ships from storms.  Over the centuries the V&A has expanded to meet the needs of the city. Today it serves the needs of both commercial and cruise ships as well as many personal watercraft. The historic docklands are a mixed-use area with a focus on retail, tourism and development with a working harbour at its center.

Although touristy, the atmosphere is festive with street performers around every corner and beautiful restored architecture from the early 1900’s. It feels a bit like EPCOT center without the actual Disney characters.  our lunch in an old Victorian building with a harbor view was very inexpensive by U.S. standards, promising even more value in other sections of the city.

With the threat of rain looming we cut our exploration short and took a cab back to our apartment.