September 17, 2025

September 17, 2025

Despite going to bed early we slept in much later than we normally do. The 48-hour travel process must have really depleted our reservoir. We went downstairs for breakfast at the hotel. The buffet was busy and heavily staffed but it was a struggle to get anything on a timely basis. I settled for a couple items that would have been better for dinner. Despite that the food was very tasty and my stomach thought it was supper-time anyway. The experience reminds me of the joke our driver told us yesterday. Cape Town has the moniker of the Mother City because it takes nine months to get anything done. The actual reason is the Dutch who initially settled Cape Town spread to the rest of South Africa from here.

Our hotel is in the Foreshore district. It lies atop the original harbor of Cape Town. But this area was land-filled to build a modern sea terminal. So we have to Uber to the current Victoria and Alfred Waterfront now over a mile away. On the way, we passed a statue of Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese captain who first made it to this southern tip of Africa in 1488. He called this spot the Cape of Storms. These explorers were looking for an alternative route to India and the Spice Islands. It would be another ten years before his buddy Vasco da Gama would make it all the way to India.

This part of the waterfront has been redeveloped into a tourist attraction. The old concrete grain silos are now a fancy hotel. We spent some time exploring several jewelry and art stores. We like a lot of the art but see no practical way to get any of it home.

At 11:30, we head to the SPYCED Restaurant for a cooking class. Their specialty is a Cape Town-Malay fusion cuisine. The Dutch imported southeast Asian Muslims to the Cape as slave workers centuries ago. Malaysian food has similarities to Thai and Indian. Our chef instructor starts with the preparation of the curry paste we grind together from a dozen various spices. We then add diced onion, ginger, a green chili pepper, and garlic along with a Coconut Cream/Milk combination and a can of whole Roma tomatoes. The mixture was then cooked with braised chicken. We followed that with the preparation of some Roti flatbread. I got a laugh watching Aimee and our friends try their hand at pan-flipping the bread. The entire time we were plied with drinks of Cappuccino coffee, a sweet Golden Milk, a Spiced Gin Aperol, and finally a local beer called Jack Black.

Afterwards we got to taste our creation along with rice and a creamy cauliflower. All of it was delicious, especially our Curry Chicken. Not surprising since Aimee and I both love spicy curry dishes. We both wished we had eaten a smaller breakfast. We also got a supply of curry powder to try at home along with our now dirty aprons.

Needing to work off the calories, we shopped some more and then strolled to the other end of the waterfront ending at the Two Oceans Aquarium. It is late and we are tired so we Ubered back to the hotel. Instead of dinner we have a little party in our room taste-testing a bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc wine.