On The Top Of Cape Town

This week, I decided to climb Table Mountain, one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Yep, I laced up my hiking boots, packed a sandwich, and my friends and I tackled the Platteklip Gorge trail. It’s about 3km straight up, with not much flat ground (I can confirm, my calves will never forget it). But wow, what a climb. The views just kept getting better the higher we went, and the hiking path was nice, or well, I’m not sure if the path was great, haha, but it was a challenge, that's for sure. Anyways, when we finally made it to the top, sweaty and proud, we had what I like to call a “Scooby-Doo lunch” with sandwiches, snacks, and drinks with a view over Cape Town. After catching our breath and enjoying our lunch, we wandered around the top, and honestly, every direction looked like a postcard.

For the way down, we decided to take a longer route, through the Valley of Isolation, past Woodhead, Victoria, and Alexandra Reservoirs, and across the Old Iron Bridge before ending up at the Constantia Nek trail. It was about 14km in total, surrounded by flowers, greenery, and that wild, beautiful South African landscape that just keeps surprising you. By the time we reached Constantia, our legs were officially jelly, so what better way to reward ourselves than with a wine tasting? Sitting in the sun with a glass of chilled white wine felt like the universe was patting us on the back, saying, “Well done, champs.”

The day after our hike, my friends and I took a day trip to the Cape Winelands with hundreds of different wine estates. So today, we jumped on the Franschhoek Wine Tram, which took us through Groot Drakenstein and some of the most beautiful estates I’ve ever seen. One of them was Boschendal, one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa. The place looks like something out of a movie: white Cape Dutch buildings, giant oak trees, and a damn good wine. We did a wine tasting there (obviously), tried a few local favorites, and I even decided to buy a bottle for the expensive price of 60SEK. After Boschendal, we hopped back on the tram and made our way to Vrede en Lust Wine Estate for lunch. The final stop on our journey was Plaisir Wine Estate, which quickly became my personal favourite. Mostly thanks to the people working the estate, all in all, they were absolutely incredible! They didn’t just pour the wine, they took the time to share stories, to explain their winemaking process, and talked about the flavours in each bottle. It felt less like a tasting and more like visiting old friends who just happened to make incredible wine.

To sum it up, weeks like these make me realize how much I will miss Cape Town the more I discover. It’s the kind of place that pushes you, surprises you, spoils you, and makes you feel right at home, even though you are thousands of miles from home.