South
Africa - Day 6
Tuesday 27th January 2026
Participants: Kev & Tam
Sleep pretty well waking at 6.30 am, but stay in bed until 8.00am. We enjoy another delicious breakfast of yogurt and granola with fresh fruit followed by a full English. The service and quality of the breakfast is exceptional. We gather all our bits for the day and walk over to the aquarium at the V & A as this is where the hop on hop off bus starts at stop 1. Today we are doing the red route and we've prepaid for a 2 day ticket that includes a 30 minute boat cruise. We think this is really good value at approx £17 per person for the 2 days. We exchange our vouchers for tickets and get given maps and headphones. The red bus is waiting so we head up to the top deck and plug our headsets in. It's interesting listening to the commentary as we follow the route round through some of the older areas of Cape Town and some parts we've not driven through.
We head on up to Table Mountain and this morning the clouds are rolling in at the top and it's decidedly chilly, it definitely wouldn't be the best day to go up in the cable car to see the views. We were lucky we got such great views when we did it earlier this week. We decide to get off in Camps Bay which is stunning - the white beach has huge rocks in places but it's got a massive amount of sea mist over it so we can hardly see the rocks but we can hear the waves crashing, decidedly spooky. We take some photos of the stunning scenery and watch paragliders coming down from Signal hill and landing nearby.
It's the strangest thing to have people sunbathing and the sound of the waves crashing in with a heavy fog hiding the sea.
The peaks in the background are named the 12 apostles although there are more than 12.
Now the mist has diffused we want to enjoy a cold drink so we decide to find a table at a rooftop cafe and end up at Tigers Milk. We sit at a high top table looking out at the beach. Now we can see the big boulders and the waves crashing down on the shore. It's a lovely spot and we both enjoy a soft drink.
Just as we decide to head back to the bus stop we see a hop on approach so we go back up to the top deck. We drive through Bantry Bay on to Sea Point, but we decide not to get off here and just enjoy the scenery and the commentary. We get off at the aquarium stop and decide to take advantage of the free 30 minute boat tour that's included with our 2 day ticket- either a Harbour or Canal Cruise. We go to the watefront and the next cruise to depart is the harbour cruise. We don't have long to wait so get on board and have front row seats. Again the commentary is very interesting about how the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront came in to being and how it was re-developed in the 90's to make part of it into the shopping, dining centre it is today. However it is still used by the fishing industry to pack and freeze fish that gets served at all of Cape Town's restaurants. The Green peace Rainbow Warrior is in the harbour too. We also see loads of seals swimming around, sitting in the tyres on the harbour walls and also on a safe platform. They're very cute but boy do they smell really bad.
So today we've done the red route and the harbour cruise and tomorrow we're going to do the blue route. At about 2:00pm we decide to head back to the hotel and we walk back as it's not worth getting an Uber. We pick up some bits and bobs from the room and we go to sit by the pool and chill out as we have a tasting menu to enjoy tonight. On our way to the pool though we get some chilled lemon water and Tam spies a pot of fudge which she declares to be delicious. 5 star rating for sure now. Sit by the pool and enjoy the shade from the seated area because it's just so hot today even though there's a fairly strong breeze blowing.
We get ready to go out as we have a reservation at 7pm for a tasting menu at Terrarium. We dress up for the occasion and get an Uber to the V&A hotel where we get a lovely table outside, Kev has a beer and I have a glass of fizz.
Head over the road to Terrarium and climb up the steps to the Victoria Hotel (not to be confused with the V&A Hotel) where the restaurant is situated. It's a lovely dining room with views over table mountain but unfortunately also views over some industrial type roofs. We go for the Fauna tasting menu ie meat, not Flora which is the plant based tasting menu. There are 8 courses and we go for the wine pairings as well. Our waitress is lovely and ask about the pace etc and gave us info on each course and wine. The cost is around £80 per person before gratuity. The food is lovely apart from a couple of courses that we find a little over seasoned.
Oysters, which are lovely, limey and slightly sweet.
Tomato tartar. Probably the nicest of all the courses.
Cerviche.
Roasted duck breast.
Tanzanie Chocolate Cremeux.
Afterwards order an Uber but there's some confusion over the pick up spot and we end up down the steps with the Uber at the top. We message him to apologise and tip him accordingly as he doesn't complain.
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