snapshots from cape town, south africa.
the salon at the dorp hotel.
april 2024
while in cape town, we stayed at the dorp hotel. they had the coziest salon for relaxing and getting a bite to eat, beautiful grounds, and stunning views due to their location at the very top of a very steep hill.
gin & tonic station.
we adored our time in cape town - it reminded us of a smaller version of LA in many ways. with mountains on one side, the ocean on the other. it was unrelentingly windy, like a more intense version of the santa ana winds, the light had a specific/unique quality to it, and the food was not only delicious but had so much international and immigrant influence.
view of devil’s peak and table mountain from our hotel room.
table mountain
we rode a cable car up to table mountain because you simply have to. the skies were pretty clear when we first headed up, but clouds started rolling over the mountain down into the city not too long after. it was pretty magical to see, but meant we really didn’t get to walk too far along the pathways as visibility dropped off.
heading up the table mountain aerial cableway.
view of lion’s head and cape town from the cable car.
rolling clouds and some dassie, or rock hyrax, up on table mountain.
walking in the clouds.
another dassie.
cape town from table mountain.
limited visibility on table mountain.
v&a waterfront
the victoria & albert waterfront area is super touristy and we only spent a little bit of time there on our way to the mocaa.
zeitz museum of contemporary art africa (mocaa)
the zeitz mocaa was one of the highlights of our time in capetown. it’s a former grain silo that was repurposed into a museum and hotel, and while gorgeous on the outside, the interior took my breath away. we saw some amazing artwork that day (i was particularly moved by the work of mame diarra-niang) but my favorite part really was exploring all the different parts of the building and how the negative space created in the center revealed and changed its history.
the atrium inside mocaa.
looking down.
gallery entry.
candid shot of james in the bowels of mocaa.
bo-kaap
at the base of signal hill (where are hotel was located) is the colorful bo-kaap neighborhood. it is a historically muslim neighborhood and there was a lot of street art in support of palestine when we visited.
auwal mosque.
devil’s peak over bo-kaap.
lion’s head over bo-kaap.
kirstenbosch national botanical garden
nestled on the southeastern side of table table mountain is kirstenbosch botanical garden. it is beautiful and sprawling (and a good respite from all the wind). we spent a few hours wandering the grounds and learned a little bit about the vast diversity of the cape floral region.
dinosaurs, cycads and castle rock.
pretty proteas.
can you spot the lizard?
tree canopy walkway.
walking up in the trees.
bronze sculpture by dylan lewis.
cape town is a beautiful and magical place, and i’d go back in a heartbeat. food posts coming up over the next few weeks and, spoiler alert, we had some amazing food as well.
