Taylored Trip – Out and About – Cape Town Carnival

When we saw it advertised that Cape Town was having a carnival we decided straight away that we were going to be there. This is how it read;

Cape Town Carnival

Shake your tail feathers and experience all the colours of the rainbow nation at this street party and parade

Mardi Gras and the spirit of ubuntu converge into one big Mother City-sized fiesta on Saturday, 18 March 2017 when the eighth annual Cape Town Carnival floats back into town on a bed of feathers and fun.

I mean people travel from all over the world to Rio and New Orleans for their carnivals and here we were having one on our own doorstep, , , we just had to go and have some fun.

We got to Cape Town around midday and like all good outings, we started it off at the V & A Waterfront to get us in the mood.

Being in March the weather was good and there were stacks of people buzzing around and enjoying themselves.

There was a show on at the amphitheatre but there was a little miss show-girl that caught everyone’s attention and stole everyone’s hearts. No one watched the artists, they all just wanted to see her jive. Look closely at the audience.

We carried on with our walkabout and checked out all the entertainment. It was buzzing and there were live entertainers everywhere. Maybe I mentioned that already.

While on our walkabout, we came across an old favourite of ours, Wild Lettuce. He was performing with a new digeridoo which we haven’t seen before. It sounded real good as did his unique styled loops that he puts together so meticulously.

Wild Lettuce

From the Robinson dry dock area Verine looked across the Alfred Basin and asked me what the strange patterns on top of the old silos were. I didn’t know and zoomed in with my camera to have a look.

Not knowing what it was we decided to go and have a look-see and this is what we found.

They had taken the old silos, the tallest building in Sub-Saharan Africa when it was built in 1940 and turned our landmark eye-sore into a 28-room luxury hotel. We won’t discuss their tariffs here because this is a family blog and I don’t want to upset anyone.

This hotel as well as many other interesting buildings and interesting facts about the V & A Waterfront will be featured soon on Taylored Trips under my banner of “Places of Interest”, so keep a sharp lookout for that.

In the meantime though, here’s a little sneak peek at what goes on up on the 11th floor.

Watch this space!

Back down on ground level we continued our walkabout as we made our way past the stadium towards the carnival area.

Cape Town StadiumGreen Point Main Road

As the carnival was due to start at 7.00pm and this was just after 5.00pm we looked for a watering hole where we could quench the incredible thirst we had built up from all the walking. As luck would have it, there were lots to choose from. We walked up and down a bit and then chose Cabrito because of its proximity. We had full intentions of moving up and down Main Rd and Somerset Rd as the evening progressed.

As the evening progressed however and after my umpteenth trip to the parade proper, forcing my way through the hordes of people and then not even able to get a “ringside” view, we realised that we were in the best possible spot all along. Besides, sitting here not only gave us a good view, it also allowed me to tuck into their very delicious El Burro!

As the evening drew to a close the streets starting filling up and the vibe increased in anticipation of what was to come. We all knew something was happening when we heard the drone of engines and the Harley Davidson motorcycle club crawled passed us amid lots of revving and thunderous noise. That signalled the start of the show.

The City of Cape Town, the most beautiful city of all, put on quite a display of their own to the delight of the crowd.

Cape Town's own "Dirty Harry" JP Smith, safety and security chief, perched up in the crow's nest. See arrow.

The carnival itself was quite spectacular and everyone went to great lengths to make the event special. The theme was “Amaza – Ocean Odyssey” and the floats portrayed this beautifully.

Entertainment, for us, had done a full 360° because El Burro’s Cabrito had become quite the “Hot Spot” and we had oodles of enjoyment every way we turned.

Like all good things, though, it had to end sometime and all too soon everyone started heading out.

We headed back to the Waterfront where we had accommodation booked for the night. At 10.15pm isn’t it amazing that everyone’s on their way out and no one’s coming in. Except us!

We did find a few die-hards at Ferryman’s Tavern though. As can be expected.

Ferryman's Tavern

And by the time we adjourned to our digs at midnight, we virtually had the Waterfront to ourselves.

Staying over, no matter where it is, always gives you the added bonus of being out and about and ready to explore long before the masses get out. At 7.00am we once again had the Waterfront all to ourselves.

We went out to Sea Point to see what was happening there. At least here there were a few more people about including a few crazy surfers who were going out to catch a very early wave.

Sea Point promenade

It was a perfect morning and slowly more and more people started pitching up to enjoy it.

And then all hell broke loose and the glorious peace and tranquillity was no more. It was a dog walk day and the doggie-doers were out in force.

Then it was time for a late scrumptious breakfast, before we walked some more, taking pictures as we went along.

This guy below, even managed to talk his friend into jumping into the icy freezing cold water. I strongly doubt whether she knew how cold the Atlantic Ocean actually is before she jumped in.

We came across an interesting plaque on the promenade.

To cut a long story short, the plaque tells the story of when molten granite flowed into black sedimentary rocks some 540 million years ago. This contact (between the two rock types) was influential in understanding the geology of the earth and it was first described in 1818. I forgot to take a photo of the actual rock they are talking about – sorry.

The Air Force also came out to have a look and gave us an impressive fly-by.

And this dude had everything, including the kitchen sink on his bicycle.

All too soon, once again, it was time to head on home. We took the back roads as usual and came across the start of the famous Cape Epic MTB Challenge at the Meerendal Wine Estate near Durbanville just to make our outing even more special. The Cape Epic is routinely referred to as “the Tour de France of mountain biking”.

With sceneries as breathtaking and magical as all the pictures in this story, one can easily believe that you are in another far-away country but this is all right here in our very own back yard. Man, I love the Western Cape.

Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”