• To The Top of Table: Platteklip Gorge Hike Review – Part 1

    5 November 2015 - By 

    On October 24th, despite having succumb to an irksome bout of flu that’s been doing the rounds, I was determined to hike to the top of Table Mountain via the Platteklip Gorge Hike. My older brother recommended it to me after I gushed to him about my Lion’s Head hike and, as advised, I waited for a hot Saturday (roughly 26-28 degrees) when I knew there would be quite a few hikers out, thus making it safer to hike on my lonesome. What with the my second-year studies drawing to a close and the hot spell persisting, I knew it…

  • Market Review: Sunday Fun at Pre-Spring Groote Post Country Market

    4 September 2015 - By 

    Having kindly been invited – along with my parents – to attend the ‘Groote Post Country Market’ some two weeks ago, I had been looking forward to a fun, family-orientated market. I was really excited for the  Groote Post’s pre-spring market* – held on what looked like a truly beautiful, yet homely Cape farm, nestled in the midst of the Darling Hills – and to be heading to the charming West Coast countryside. *(Except in the winter, the market is held on the last Sunday of each month). So it was that we arose bright and early on Sunday morning,…

  • Travel and Beach Review: Gorgeous Clifton – Cape Town’s Unique Beach Quartet

    4 August 2015 - By 

    Cape Town beach-goers are blessed with a wealth of glorious beaches to choose from, starting with the picture-perfect Blouberg to the glamourous Camps Bay, but my favourite by far is the quartet of granite boulder-strewn Clifton beaches, with their frothy, nippy waves that kiss the sandy, pristine shoreline, as yachts frame the seemingly endless horizon and rest serenely upon the breathtakingly beautiful turquoise waters. Though the four beaches – respectively known as: Clifton 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th – share similar surroundings, they each attract their own group(s) of beach-goers and accompanying range of outdoor activities. Visitors from the Mother…

  • Chasing the Sun: A Wintry Afternoon Drive Along the Cape Coastline

    16 June 2015 - By 

    After a long and frenetic first semester of second-year studies, I was all but chafing at the bit to leave the hustle and bustle of the Mother City behind for a month’s ‘down time’ back home. These days, any road trip that takes me back home is a cause for joyous celebration and something I look forward to with much eagerness as skyscrapers are replaced by neat, rural farmlands and sleepy towns, and the masses of city folk by dusty Merino sheep. However, my spirits were even more buoyed than usual by my parents’ proposal to take a slightly longer…

  • Restaurant Review: The Classy Balducci Restaurant, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town

    9 June 2015 - By 

    UPDATE: Sadly, as of December 2020, Balducci has closed its doors after 24 wonderful years of service. However, you can still support their sister restaurant, Gibsons. Last month I had the immense pleasure of visiting what must surely be one of Cape Town’s finest restaurant offerings: Balducci. Tucked away near the lower level entrance/exit point of the V & A Waterfront’s Victoria Wharf in Shop 6162, Balducci’s philosophy, as stated in their own words, is a simple one: “to provide a memorable experience by redefining the essence of good home cooked food and continually upping the standards with its slick…

  • Travel and Beach Review: Bloubergstrand Beach, Cape Town

    25 May 2015 - By 

      Found along the M14 road between Big Bay Beach and Table View Beach is the breathtakingly situated Blouberg Beach, otherwise known as ‘Bloubergstrand‘. ‘Blouberg’ is an Afrikaans word that, directly translated, means ‘blue mountain’. This is a most apt name for the Northern Suburb area where this beach can be found, as from here, the famous and well-loved Table Mountain does indeed look beautifully blue. The beach, with its spectacular backdrop and surrounding ocean views – which, due to its often windy conditions, makes it extremely popular for kite- and windsurfers alike – has the most beautiful, clean stretch…

  • Beach Review: Camps Bay Beach, Cape Town

    20 April 2015 - By 

    The locally and internationally famous Camps Bay Beach is the pride and joy of the Mother City. With its beautiful ocean views, mixture of almost turquoise and deep blue waters, pristine white stretch of beach, giant granite boulders and spectacular views of the famous Twelve Apostles mountain range and Lion’s Head, it deserves all the praise it receives and more. A few minutes’ drive from the Cape Town CBD, Camps Bay Beach – and indeed Camps Bay itself –  is well worth a visit on a beautiful summer or even early autumn day for a good, safe and family-friendly day…

  • Food and Drink Review – Sushi Experience: Sevruga, V&A Waterfront

    20 April 2015 - By 

    Few settings can rival Cape Town’s magnificent & graceful V & A Waterfront – but when you add a fine-dining sushi experience in a professional and smart, yet decidedly relaxed restaurant environment on the harbour’s edge to it, you have just done precisely that and you have been served by: Sevruga. Sevruga – and it’s sister restaurant, Beluga (for more info., see: http://www.beluga.co.za) – is owned by The Caviar Foundation and/or Restaurant Group – based both locally in the Mother City and in the ‘jewel’ of the Indian Ocean, Durban – and, according to their website, http://www.sevruga.co.za,”embodies a passion for…

  • Food and Drink Review: Charly’s Bakery

    28 November 2014 - By 

    Charly’s Bakery, located at 38 Canterbury Street, Zonnebloem in the famous District Six area of Cape Town, is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike that possess a sweet tooth. Charly’s has become one of my familiar haunts in the past year and although my first ever visit to Charly’s was in January of this year, I have since been back many times throughout February to October with friends and loved ones and have celebrated some small but special occasions there. Aside from my sit-and-eat visits, I have probably passed it well over fifty times on my way to…