Journey Impressions: Cape Town

Cape Town: approx. 3.50 m inhabitants (2009)
South Africa: approx. 48.7 m inhabitants
Population growth (2008): 1.3%
People per km²: 40
Gross national income per person in 2008 PPP: 9,780 USD


25.11.2010 Cape Town: After 30 minutes' drive, we reached our little hotel, the Ellerman House. Now we had arrived at the southernmost point of our trip and were looking forward to two days of sightseeing. As we noticed later, this little five-star hotel was located in Bantry Bay on the Atlantic. At about 150 m above the bay, we had a wonderful view. Nelson Mandela also had a good view at the time. From our patio, in good weather to the north, we could see Robben Island where he was imprisoned. Ellerman House doesn't officially have five stars, but Flight Service International told us beforehand that this hotel certainly deserved it. We were given an appropriately exclusive welcome. The senior manager, Ella Cuyler, greeted us in person. Then she took us through the entire hotel. It has approx. 20 to 25 rooms or suites, as well as rooms around the pool. Of course we would have liked a drink as soon as we arrived, but Ella was so enthusiastic about her house that she had to show it to us first of all. You could see numerous works of art on the walls throughout the whole place. There was a lounge, a library, a fireside room, huge balconies and patios, as well as two pools in the garden. In the garden there were chairs underneath large palm trees and other foliage.

At the end of the approx. 30-minute tour, we stopped in a wonderful room with bathroom and direct access to a patio with a little pool. This was the end of the tour. I ventured to ask where the second room was. Ella Cuyler furrowed her brow and said that only one room had unfortunately been reserved for us and weren't we a couple? We thought this was very amusing and in all truth said that no, we weren't a couple. We asked for a second room instead. And she did in fact have one in the pool area which was close to the spa facilities. The room was made up quickly. But Martin had to accept one serious disadvantage in this room: the TV didn't work. Apart from the fact that the knobs on the wardrobes were totally dirty, he had a very good room.

I inspected my generous-sized room and noticed that you unfortunately couldn't lock the door. The lock was faulty. I was told that I should only lock the door from the inside to start with until the locksmith came the next morning.

The hotel was fitted with complex, sophisticated electronics, a bus system with touchscreen. Unfortunately, it was not always well thought-out because for example the pool's underwater lighting and a pool pump could not be switched off from this touchscreen. Because of the noise and light I asked the hotel to switch off the two electrical devices during the night. I preferred to look out of the window at the sea and the starry skies than on a lit pool. An electrician was summoned to solve these problems and the manager asked whether these functions could not be integrated into the touchscreen.

After we had settled into the rooms, it was time for dinner. The food was excellent. We had nothing to complain about and had a fantastic dinner on our patio in peace. Our waiter made us laugh. He filled Martin's glass with sparkling wine so that I could try it. Then he put down this glass for Martin again - and gave me a new, full one.

Over the next few days the staff offered us several of these slapstick moments. But they didn't spoil our stay at all. Our impression was that Ella Cuyler placed high demands which were not always in tune with reality. As a result, these types of amusing situations often came about.

26.11.2010 Cape Town: The next morning, after a good sleep, we breakfasted on the patio. We were served cappuccino and an extremely delicious buffet had been put on. Even Martin's favourite - muesli - was included. However, his euphoria was dampened when looking at the muesli. We noticed that two thrushes were helping themselves with relish and weren't about to pass up the chance of such a tasty breakfast.

After breakfast, I phoned Uschi Walker. We arranged to meet in the evening for a meal on Cape Town's waterfront. Uschi's maiden name was Wollenweber. We were in the same class at primary and middle school. We hadn't seen each other for 50 years believe it or not. The meeting promised to be an interesting one. While talking to Uschi, we discovered that she and several friends had tried to welcome us at Cape Town airport. She was given different information by the airport staff. One said that we hadn't taken off from Virginia, near Durban, until the afternoon at around 15.00 h and could possibly be landing at 17.00 h in Cape Town. This information was of course definitely wrong. Unfortunately we couldn't explain how it had happened. And our welcome in Cape Town, which Uschi had planned so carefully, came to nothing. We regretted this very much and thanked Uschi for preparing such a welcome.

We spent the afternoon on Table Mountain. A taxi driver took us to the cable car. Beforehand, he drove a little further to show us Lionsgate. A wonderful view in superb sunshine turned into a real experience for us. Then we took the cable car to Table Mountain and wandered around there. The weather was scorching. I put on my cap to avoid getting sunburnt. Martin said he was immune to sunburn. Pretty exhausted, we then went back to Ellerman House by taxi. Now we prepared for the meeting with Uschi at the Waterfront in Baia restaurant.

A very friendly woman taxi driver took us to the waterfront - and we started to speculate. Because she had dropped us at the entrance to the shopping centre and we started to have misgivings. After all, what would sort of restaurant could a shopping centre offer? The Ellerman House did recommend it to us, but what would it be like? A short while later, we were relieved. Because once we'd walked through the shopping centre, we came out at the other side of the water front, the fish harbour. There were several restaurants around this port. Baia was the most elegant of them all. Suddenly a woman was standing in front of us and taking photos of Martin and me. It was Uschi who was smiling at us.

It was a very enjoyable, fun evening. We swapped a lot of memories. Uschi told us for example that she had slapped my face in the last class of middle school. I'd completely forgotten that. Now I'll have to contact my psychiatrist, because surely such humiliation from a woman must have caused me problems in later life!! Also Uschi told us what was important as regards our stay here. At the end of such a pleasant evening, Uschi asked us to bring her to her car, because night time on the waterfront is always a little dodgy. But there were no situations that gave us cause for concern. Martin and I went back by taxi to the Ellerman House and asked the barkeeper to serve us a nightcap. I ordered a grappa and Martin his obligatory whisky. What was supposed to be a grappa was unfortunately a sweet wine liqueur. The barkeeper had now disappeared so we couldn't complain. Martin said that he would serve me vodka from the bar instead. Once this had been drunk, the barkeeper reappeared and I was able to lodge my complaint. He went upstairs and actually returned after a quarter of an hour with a bottle of grappa. Now I had my grappa at last.

What more could you want? Martin and I had decided to relax for a day.

27.11.2010 Cape Town: In the morning, I phoned Uschi again, as arranged, after breakfast at around 10 h. She suggested that we go with her to the Cape of Good Hope and to Cape Point and spend a whole day on the peninsula. We were enthusiastic about the idea.

We then drove down the Atlantic coast from Bantry Bay and to Table Mountain National Park and to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. It was a really exciting drive with fantastic views. During the drive, Uschi even spotted a whale with its young. We passed various sandy bays, little fishing ports, viewing points and the national park. At Cape Point it is pretty steep. There's a real mountain there. Uschi and Martin preferred the cable car while I went up and down on foot.

Uschi was armed with everything you needed for a trip of this type: maps, water bottles and provisions. On the way back, fishermen offered to sell the fish they had caught. Uschi purchased a fish for her friend and her friend's husband. Afterwards we visited them and had the champagne that had actually been bought for our welcome at the airport. This very nice reception at her friends' house was the end of our drive. Uschi took us back to the Ellerman House and Ella Cuyler.

I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking Uschi warmly again. And of course, a long walk on the North German mudflats will be part of the agenda when she comes to Germany again.

28.11.2010 Cape Town: In the morning, we had breakfast again in the Ellerman House before we set off for the airfield. Beforehand, we were given another comical little interlude: Martin and I had had an egg over easy, or an egg fried medium from both sides with bacon. But we were given two eggs with bacon sunny side up - which means just fried from one side. Martin couldn't be bothered to argue with the staff. I on the other hand asked them to fry the eggs again from the other side in the pan. After not even one minute, both eggs were brought back to me. It looked as if they had now been fried from both sides. What puzzled me was how quickly they'd done it. I used my fork to look under the egg and it hadn't even been fried again, but just simply turned over. At this point, I didn't want to argue with the staff either. I ate up the egg. Both of us thought that Ella Cuyler would have to work on aligning the reality at Ellerman House with the high demands she expects.

And I'd like to add one small thing: during the first few days, Ella Cuyler stressed that we could just relax without having to leave the hotel. In the future, this appears a credible prospect, if the construction work in the garden is finished. While we stayed in this hotel, every day 30 to 50 construction workers and gardeners worked on a building in the garden, or were occupied with putting new plants in the garden. Of course we have nothing against construction workers and gardeners. Here they were friendly and courteous. But you wouldn't have wanted to spend all your leisure time with them.

When we said goodbye, Ella Cuyler was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps we had asked too many realistic questions after all. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the Ellerman House.