The Cohen Family Adventure Summer 2011: Cape of Good Hope

Friday, August 12th was our first rainy day in South Africa. We started the day playing Twister and ended the day with Twister! In between, we drove all over the Cape Town area looking for South African soccer (which they call "football") shirts for the kids. This was no easy task as it's rugby season right now - just weeks away from the Rugby World Cup - and the stores are filled with team gear from the South African national rugby union team, the Springboks. Rugby is serious business in South Africa as they are the current holders of the Rugby World Cup - who knew!

Early Saturday morning we drove Eric to Westlake to join up with a local cycling group for an organized ride. By all accounts, he had an amazing ride and impressed the locals with his hill climbing abilities. He later conceded (humbly) that it was winter season for them and summer season for him. They may have been off their top form...

Later on Saturday we drove to Cape Point which is billed as the most "south-westerly" point in Africa - not true. Also not true is that it's the place where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless it is far more spectacular and a lot more accessible than the actual tip at Cape Agulhas. It's also one of the most visited spots in Cape Town. Sir Frances Drake, the first explorer to complete a voyage aound the world, described it as "the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth". Enormous sea cliffs tower above the ocean, whipped by fierce winds. On the west side the shore is littered with shipwrecks, testimony to the notoriously treacherous waters. There's so much to see and do, the beaches are fabulous and we could have easily spend the whole day here.