New Year in Cape Town

It's done, off we go!!!!! The team is always the same, me, Tommy and the Champ......the 3 of the Hail Mary!!!! Destination Cape Town, everyone speaks highly of it, and besides, it's the height of summer down there.......we're happy as can be!!!!!! Also because we booked at the last minute and were afraid we wouldn't find any room left; the travel agencies were quoting us absurd prices for the flight, but then, yours truly found on Expedia a flight to Johannesburg with Olympic, via Athens, for only 1100 euro!!!!! With the intercontinental booked, only the internal flight remained, and to save money we opted for an African low cost (how scary) — 1time.co.za — to reach Cape Town. The hotel too was booked with Expedia: Hotel St. Jeorge, 4 stars in the City Bowl area at a cheap price (50 euro a night for the room, breakfast included).

And off we go!!!!! The flight is long but everything goes very well and the much-feared low cost turns out to be brilliant!! We arrive late in the evening and here's the first surprise......there are no cars left available, they're all rented....it's New Year!!!!! Desperate, I go to AVIS and at reception I meet a very friendly black man who, when he realises we're Italian, asks me which is my football team....and thanks to the magic JUVE a car still turns up available......and off we go!!!!!!!!! Thank you DEL PIERO!!!!!!! As soon as we get to the hotel (a terrifying skyscraper) we go out to walk towards the famous Water Front......what a disappointment.........no one around.....just the three of us, tired and hungry.....the road is long....too long....we needed the car,.....we finally arrive but it's late and there are few people there too, and on top of that......IT'S COLD!!!!!! We start

looking at each other, undecided whether to laugh or cry, we opt for a big laugh, grab a quick bite and head back to the hotel by taxi, tomorrow will surely be better!!!! And indeed the next day there's a wonderful sun and the city is teeming with life.....THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!! Encouraged, we decide to go straight off in search of the beaches!!!! The coast outside the city is a spectacle!!! Barren mountains plunging into the sea and, along the road, magnificent white beaches....OFF WE GO!!!!!!!!!!! We find a wonderful little beach among the volcanic rocks where we're the only ones........the sun doesn't seem excessively strong and Tommaso and I opt for a low-factor sunscreen (4), while the Champ disapproves and puts on 20.....the upshot: that evening Tommaso and I are burnt like lobsters and the Champ has a magnificent colour........women are always right about certain things........

On the second day we decide to go up Table Mountain; we set off in the morning around 10 and when we reach the cable car that takes you to the top there must have been 2KM of people queuing!!!!! Incredible, we give up and decide to opt for the beach, Sandy Bay......beautiful!!!!! On the third day we decide to make the trip to the Cape of Good Hope, about 300 KM round trip, beautiful!!!!! Stops in the various little towns and a visit to the penguin beach!!!!!! They're small and smelly, but they're hilarious and so endearing! On reaching the Cape we opt for the funicular to go up (very steep and long) and once we arrive the spectacle that opens up before your eyes is unforgettable: the 2 oceans colliding, an incredibly strong wind, and out at sea the whales spouting water.......a place where you truly realise the force of wild nature and how small man is before such power!!!!!! Suddenly the

weather changes and it starts pouring with rain......we dash to the car, we arrive soaked...but overjoyed by the spectacle!!!! The return journey is just as beautiful; we opt for the coastal road even though it's a bit longer, and the choice is spot on!!! Wonderful panoramas, it's hard to describe the variety of the coast: you go from mountains to sea, from wild beaches where a crazy wind blows and the sea currents paint dark colours in the water, to beaches crowded with people and a crystal-clear, calm sea. One thing surprised us: the sea is freezing!!!!!!! Almost impossible to swim....you come out frozen....and then they say it's full of sharks....I didn't see any, but that doesn't relax you much when you're in the water.

Our favourite beach was Clifton Bay number 3, the most "fashionable" one in all of Cape Town, small, never too crowded and above all very busy indeed!!!!!!!!!! On New Year's Eve we go to the Waterfront to see the fireworks; this time it's packed everywhere, but it proves a disappointment once again: no countdown, fireworks worthy of a village fete (they must have lasted 5 minutes in all) and people who don't celebrate noisily like back home, they're all calm and boring!!! Only we 3 make a dreadful racket and down a bottle of champagne, straight from the bottle, that we brought with us from Italy.

Disappointed and furious with the people, we get into our car and, with the windows down and techno blasting, we join the queue......everyone stares at us as if we were mad.....who cares, it's New Year!!!!!!!!!! We go to a club until 4 in the morning and there too we perform wild dances and shouts (we were terribly drunk).....in the end it was a great New Year spent in high spirits, in spite of the dreary locals!!!! The days that follow run by between beaches, restaurants and night spots; we pay another visit to the BO KAP district, with its colourful houses (which hide the shanty towns right behind) and one evening at sunset we return to Table Mountain to go up on the last ride so as to avoid the queues.......an excellent choice, the panorama is spectacular towards sunset, the city below sparkles with light and the sun sinks into the sea......BEAUTIFUL.....and without queueing for a sing

le second!!!!! On the last day we even run into a group of our friends from Milan whom we didn't know were there....so much fun!!!! The holiday is over; we're happy, nicely tanned, relaxed and loaded with things bought during a day of wild shopping (we had to drag the Champ away from the shops or she'd have bought everything!!!!). In short, a great holiday that I recommend to everyone!!!!! Happy Cape Town to all! Max