Up at 7. Booked on to the 9am tour to Robben Island and so we have to be there for 8.30am.
It is a beautiful day.
When we got to the "Gateway" museum, there was a room called "Message from Prisoners" so we popped in to have a look. What a moving and well thought out presentation! The room is long and narrow and you stand facing a full screen wall. On the screen they play a film of (life sized) prisoners, singing and talking of what their "crime" had been and where in SA they had been imprisoned during the struggle. So you feel as if they are in front of you in the room. Clever.
http://www.robben-island.org.za/
We managed to fluke being first on to the boat so got a great seat upstairs and therefore grfeat views of Cape Town and Table Mountain as we sailed over to Robben Island. The weather at sea had been described as "moderate" when we arrived at the gateway, but inside the harbour it was like a mill pond. I'd taken my sea legs pills just in case! As soon as we left harbour it changed. Pretty choppy.
Docking at Robben Island you're greeted by a huge concrete pier full of birds and bird shit. It stinks! I guess a combination of birds, fish and guano.
At Robben Island you first of all get on to a coach for a tour around part of the island. The guide tells you the history of the island, and you stop briefly at a few key places - Robert Sobukwe's house, and notably the lime quarry where the political prisoners worked mining lime. It was surprisingly tiny and had a "cave" where they would eat lunch and the current SA leaders planned for the future. We saw a mole snake, ostrich and African penguins as we drove around.
The tour culminates at the Maximum Security Prison where an ex-prisoner takes you to a large communal cell and talks about life on the island and what conditions were like. It's fascinating, but another hour or so with him would have been better as he was so interesting. His crime was to have been a guerilla in Umkhonto we Sizwe - the military wing of the ANC.
After queuing to look at Mandela's cell, we headed back to Cape Town. This time we were not so lucky to get a seat outside on the boat. We stopped for lunch at the Little Mermaid (Beef and chicken baguettes) and then headed back to our room to regroup and plan the rest of the day.
We planned to use the hop on/hop off open topped sightseeing bus around the city but we only hopped off once before deciding that we should hop back on and sit all the way round the route and listen to the commentary and enjoy the sights. We didn't have enough time to properly visit any of the attractions (museums etc) and it was hot and not so pleasant walking round the main streets of Cape Town. We came back to our hotel via Camps Bay and the beach road again, so we got to see what we'd only glimpsed after dark yesterday.
After a shower I dozed in the chair before dinner. We ate at Quay 4. http://www.quay4.co.za/aboutq4.htm
It was just "okay". The menu didn't quite deliver what it promised. I had tempura prawns with fried leeks and curry honey dip. Roy had scallop and kingklip fishcakes with wasabi mayo. For mains I got what was described as roasted baby chicken encrusted with sea salt and served with potato rosti and lemon. What actually turned up was griddled chicken breast with frozen potato shapes. I don't know what happened to the goats cheese and lemon! Roy had swordfish and chips, which just looked ok. We shared a bottle of Boschendal Chenin Blanc. After not being overly impressed with main courses, we decided to walk back to our hotel for dessert and coffee.
I had chocolate truffles (like little pastries filled with chocolate and deep fried) with coconut ice cream. Roy had Pear Tart and ice cream (sharp eyed readers will notice a recurring theme with the pear tart here!). It was very good.
Bed. VERY tired today. I think yesterday's walk is catching up with us!
