Republic of SOUTH AFRICA 3rd Day:- Cape Town - March,24,2019 Hout Bay, Cape Point

Republic of SOUTH AFRICA     

3rd Day:- Cape Town - 24.03.2019

Hout Bay, Simons Town, Cape Point

After the breakfast in our Hotel Lady Hamilton, around 09.00 o’clock, our bus ‘Mega Coach’ took us to coastal road on the West of the Cape Town. We drove through Bantry Bay and then reached to the Camps Bay. It was around 10.00. Our bus stopped in a parking lot and we gave a short break for taking pictures.

Camps Bay, South Africa

Camps Bay is the beach where the Portuguese discovery ships came and established their first camp in the last decade of 15^th century. The pioneers to discover this part of the world where Barthelme Diaz and Vasquez de Gama on behalf of the Portuguese king.

Their goal was to turn around South Africa to the East where the spice was coming from.

After half an hour we continued our trip on route M6 which is the so-called Victoria Drive to the direction Hout Bay. The scenic road Victoria is connecting Hout Bay to the Cape Town Since we were heading to the South, the blue and endless ocean was on our right hand side. The sky was partially cloudy but the sun was promisingly shining.

We arrived at Hout Bay around 11:00 o’clock.This is a small fisherman’s’ town. Our bus came to park. We walked in the Mariner’s Wharf. There were a couple of seals around. Small ethnic groups were making music and children were dancing for the tourists.

I bought a coffee. Then we waited for our scheduled boat trip. Our boat took us to a small

rocky island just 2-3 miles away from the coast. There are colony of seals on and around the small island. Our boat approached to the island and we took pictures.

Then we sailed back to the Mariner’s Wharf.

Hout Bay, Mariner's Wharf

Open Souvenier Shops, Hout Bay

Dancing children at the Hout Bay

Marina at the Hout Bay

Just before boarding for the seals

Seal colony living on a rocky island

Seal Colony

We seated in our bus and we started to drive. Leaving Hout Bay, at a view point we stopped only to take few pictures. We continued on the Chapman’s Peak Drive. This is a panoramic road which is good for passengers but not for the drivers. The road is with many curves and getting narrow from time to time. The elevation of the road is changing between 60 and 120 meters from sea level. According to the existing rules it is a one direction route is for big buses. It is a dangerous road section but most scenic as well.

Chapman 's Peak Drive (foto taken from The Vibe Guest Studios' page)

We came to the Simons Town which is on False Bay side. Our bus drove us further down. We passed at the side of the naval base of Republic South Africa.The symbol of this naval base has used to be a Golden Retriever. It was a devoted and sympathetic dog of the base in the past.

Further down we came to a place where a big Penguin Colony is leaving. We were at the East coast of the peninsula. We walked on the sandy beach to the penguins. They were bordered by the wooden hand trails all along the walking deck. We took a lot of pictures and while walking back to the bus I bought delicious ice cream from one of the nice looking ice cream corner.

Penguin Colony in Simons Town, South Africa

A penguin warming the egg.

We arrived at the pre-booked restaurant at the sea side. They served us with sea food, fish and green salad. I took also a cold South African beer. After the lunch we continued our road on M4 to the Cape Point. When we came to the Cape Point the weather changed badly and a thick fog was around. We bought the tickets for the funicular which takes the people to the light house which is located at approx. 180 meter from sea level. It is a huge and powerful light house visible from 100 miles. We took a few pictures and then came down with the funicular. There is a souvenir shop at the lower funicular station and I bought a key ring with Cape Point symbol as a gift to my son. One of the interesting thing and danger was about baboons leaving there everywhere. These animals are eating any food that the visitors have in their pockets or in their bags. Be careful against baboons in the parking lot and on the hill up to the light house as well. They are suddenly stealing the bags and sometimes attacking people for getting the food stuff.

Light House of Cape Point

After that our bus took us down to the place “Cape of Good Hope.”

There is a symbolic wooden sign showing the geographical location at the coast looking to the West. It is a place to remember by photographs. After having some pictures we continued on our bus back to Cape Town. It was a trip back to our Hotel of about 1 ½ hours. It was approx. 18:30 when we came back to our Hotel.

I didn’t fixed the reason exactly but my stomach was hurting me when we were back. The fish or one of the food products on the lunch could be spoilt. I spent the night at the Hotel.

Republic of SOUTH AFRICA:- 2nd Day:- Cape Town, March,23rd 2019.

Republic of SOUTH AFRICA     

2nd Day:- Cape Town - 23.03.2019

Table Mountain, Paarl, Stellenbosch

After we had breakfast in our Hotel Lady Hamilton, around 09.00 o’clock, our bus ‘Mega Coach’ took us to the Table Mountain. After a short trip we arrived at the Lower Cable Station. We bought the tickets. The weather was beautiful and warm. Sky was clear and there was no wind at all. There were a lot people in the queue waiting for the aerial cable car. We waited approx. 40 minutes in order to take the cable car.

Cable car of Table Mountain

Endemic animal of the Table Mountain

Looking the west from the top of the Table Mountain

Top view over the city Cape Town

Looking to the North from the Lower Cable Station

Table Bay view

The cable car has a rotating circular floor. Without holding the handrails or sidewalls of the car everybody can have a circular view around the car. There are two cable cars each with a capacity around 50-60 passengers. While one of them is ascending, the other one is descending downwards. The view from the top of the Table Mountain is fantastic. It is open to 360 deg. In the North direction there is Birdseye view over the city Cape Town.

If someone look to the West direction there is endless/ indefinite view over the Atlantic Ocean. Just in the skirts of the Table Mountain, in the West direction there is Camps Bay.

There are summer houses of some famous people at the Camps Bay. However, the beach and the sea is well attractive there is no interest to obtain benefit out of this. It is said that the water is cold even in summer and there is the risk of the white sharks here around.

Camps Bay :- Where the first discovery ships of Portugal have landed.

The so-called Lions Head (rocky extension about 670 meter from sea level) is also one of the remarkable views from the Table Mountain and from the cable car. We walked on the top of the Table Mountain approx. one hour and took a few pictures of the surrounding.

Lions Head Hill from the Table Mountain skirts.

We took again the cable car in order to go down. There are also trekking routes around the Table Mountain (1087 meter from sea level) and someone can see these in the skirts of the mountain. When we arrived at the Lower cable Station our bus continued in the direction (N1 Road) to the Paarl. There are a lot of vineyards in the East side of the Cape Town.  Paarl is also one of the regions where there are vineyards and wine producers.

After almost 1½ hour we reached to the wine producer KWV Wine Emporium. It is a well-known factory and in the world list top 5. They produce many kinds of wine, brandy.

We paid a tour in the factory and then we stopped for wine testing. The lady offered us 6-7 different kind wines and one brandy. After that we bought a couple of things in their shop.

Imoya Brandy of KWV is advisable.

Wines aging in the Oak Barrels

Biggest oak cask I have ever seen :- 202,301 liter of wine.

Wine Testing

We continued on the bus in the direction of the small city ‘Stellenbosch’. This is a small university city with a very nice and picturesque surrounding. The green and colorful gardens of the houses and the clean streets are romantic. We stopped in a park place and then walked to the restaurant. It is a nice and big restaurant with clean tables and garden.

We sat outside in the garden and ate nice food under the comfortable weather condition.

After the lunch we started to walk to our bus. Our bus took us at a street where we waited some of our people walking slowly. Then we had a small walking in the street. There are nice and friendly coffee houses, souvenir shops and art galleries at both sides of the calm street.

After half an hour we stepped into the bus and the bus drove us to the Cape Town, to our Hotel Lady Hamilton. We took a rest and around 20.00 we called an UBER taxi and this one took us to the Bree Str where there is the Tapas Bar/Restaurant which we had planned to go. It is approx. 4-4 ½ km from our Hotel. Since it was Saturday the street is busy in the night. There are a lot of people in the restaurants, taverns and cafés.

We sat in the ‘La Parada Bree Street’ (107 Bree St, Cape Town City Centre). We ordered

some of their specialties and enjoyed our dinner with a couple of beers.

After that we started to walk along the Bree Street in the direction to our Hotel. The street was safe but in some place we had to be careful. The people do say that usually there is crime in the city. We followed the Kloof Street heading our Hotel.

We were lucky it didn’t happen any bad thing and reached to our Hotel around 22:00.

Republic of SOUTH AFRICA-1st Day:-March,22nd,2019

Republic of SOUTH AFRICA     

1st Day & Night :-from Istanbul to Cape Town

21.03.2019 & 22.03.2019                                                                         

We took the flight of Qatar Airways from Istanbul to Cape Town via Doha. Our plane took off at 19:40 from Ataturk Airport. I am together with Mehlika and we landed at Doha Airport around 24:00. Doha Airport, named Hamad Int’l Airport, is a new and modern building and very luxuries. Our connection flight was on 01:45. It took around 10 hours to Cape Town. There is no time difference between Istanbul and Doha whereas the time difference between South Africa is 1 hour. Even it is a long distance flight there is no jet lack problem on this trip.

It was next day approx. 11:00 o’clock when we arrived at Cape Town. There is no visa requirement for Turkish Citizens. We took the tour bus “Mega Coach” from the Cape Town Airport and it took us to the down town. We approached to the city from Southeast using the route M3. The Table Mountain was the most peculiar visual effect when we came closer to the down town.

Table Mountain and Trasnportation to the top

We got out as the bus came to the “BO KAAP”. This part of the city is populated originally by the Islamic people who had been deported from Fareast countries like Indonesia, Malesia. There are a few colorful houses on the main street of Bo Kaap. These had been used to be houses of Islamic people in the old times.

We continued with our bus through the city Cape Town. We saw the Parliament House and the Castle of Good Hope. Then we stopped in the Grand Parade Square where there is the Town Hall. This place and this building is outrageous.

After Mandela had been released from the prison on 11^th, February, 1990, several hours later, Nelson Mandela made his first speech on the balcony of Cape Town's City Hall.

There is now 1:1 size statue of Mandela on the balcony.

Town Hall of Cape Town

Balcony of the Town Hall with the statue of Mandela

Our bus took us to the Company’s Garden, which is nowadays a green park in the middle of the town. In the old times, late in 17^th century the Dutch-Indian Company came here and established a real big garden to produce agricultural products like vegetable, fruit etc.

The garden is today rather smaller but there are big trees and green habitation where the people may enjoy the nature in close surrounding.

We had been driven through the main streets in the town and then we arrived at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. We left the bus here and walked into the Waterfront Mall. We went to the Greek Restaurant on the second floor having a view over the harbor. The weather was fine and sunny. 

After the lunch we continued on the bus to our Hotel Lady Hamilton. We moved to our room and we took a rest until 19:00 o’clock. After that we called a UBER taxi and we went to the Waterfront. That place is full of people. The restaurants and bars are looking nice in the night. We took a ride on the wheel. There is a nice view over the harbor. As we finished our ride on the wheel we took place in the restaurant just adjacent to us. It is a kind of “Biergarten” (beer garden) and there is a small orchestra playing and singing. We took Savanah dry (a kind of beer with ginger soda with 3% alc.) and Weizenbeer. I ordered also a classic hamburger. We spent more or less 2-3 hours in the Waterfront and then took a UBER taxi and drove back to our Hotel Lady Hamilton. UBER is safe for the in-city transportation. 

Endülüs 'de Raks - Dance in Andalucia :-14-22 June 2018

Endülüs 'de Raks  / Dance in Andalusia
Day 01 : 14.06.2018
Istanbul - Madrid (via Turkish Airlines)  and Cordoba with Motorcycle

My exciting motorcycle tour in Andalusia started early in the morning on June, 14th,2018 with the flight from Istanbul to Madrid. I had arranged my rental motorbike (BMW R1200 GS)
by the company IMT Bike in Madrid.
Today I fly to Madrid in order to take the bike. I have got my medium size suit case comprising my helmet, motorcycle boots, pants and summer jacket. There are also some auxiliaries which I think would be helpful during my trip.
After arriving at the Madrid Barajas Airport around 11:00 o'clock I took a taxi to the IMT Bike rental office. I paid roughly 45.-Euro to get there. The guys of IMT Bike are nice and friendly they had already prepared my bike. While finishing the paper work in 10 minutes, a member of the company shared his suggestions with me and drew my attention to the nice riding roads around Ronda. I noted. The nice guy, Javier is also very friendly and helpful. He is one of the Technicians at the company.
Meanwhile, I changed my clothing and put all my stuff into the side cases and top case.
These are all included in the price (approx. 840.-Euro for 8 days). I left my emptied suit case at the company and departed around 13:00. I followed the route which is shown below.

There is no spectacular view in the South of Madrid. The landscape is boring and mostly barren land. The temperature was more then 31 deg C. It is the best thing to run away to the Sur (South). Toledo is within 100 km from Madrid. It is a famous and nice city to visit. 
Do not miss !!! I stopped almost at the top of the city Toledo. There is a look-out point to watch the city from top. Then I walked in the streets of the town where I found a place to get my lunch. The streets are from the old times. Narrow and with old looking buildings. Toledo is a famous place for production of steel arms production like knives, swords, etc. in the Medieval ages.

Right in the middle of the town Toledo.

Toledo Main Square

Sun shades on the top of the narrow streets in Toledo.

Picture taken from the look-out point at the top.

After 2-2 1/2 hour break in Toledo I continued my ride in the South direction. My next stop is Cordoba. I had taken the main route which took me in 2 1/2 hours to my Hotel in Cordoba.
I had booked the ARRIADH Hotel at Avenida de Cadiz N-58, on the South bank of the Guadalquivir river. I stayed there two nights in order to see Cordoba and surrounding.



As soon as I finished my work in my room I got out for the down town. It was hot outside. I walked on the south bank of the Guadalquivir river, which means broad river. There are also broad streets all along the river. I took the Roman Bridge in order to enter the old town. The bridge is roughly 200 meter and takes to the nearest point to the Mesquita (=Mosque) and Cathedral. It is an ancient building located at the city center. The Mesquita and its yard is free to visitors early in the morning. The temperature is also well in the morning. Therefore I planned to visit the Mesquita next morning.

I walked through the narrow streets of the town. I saw the ancient Jewish part of the down town.

On the South bank of the Guadalquivir, Mesquita in the backround

Cordoba, River Guadalquivir

Gate between Roman Bridge and the Mesquita.

A street at the Mesquita

One of the gates of the Mesquita

The tower of the Old Mesquita Cathedral