Capetown, South Africa: Lounges, Overbooked Ferries and Bargain Basement Prices

 While long, our journey to the beautiful city of Capetown, South Africa was uneventful except for a minor incident in the Ladies’ Restroom in the Turkish Airlines Lounge. We landed in Istanbul with a two-hour layover and decided to take advantage of the airline’s lounge. The Ladies’ Room was sleek and ultra-modern with all the amenities for the 21st  Century traveler: sleek, automatic opening doors, automatic soap and running water fixtures, etc.  Imagine my surprise when I began walking into a stall and saw a hole in the floor….and that’s it.  I have seen and even used these types of toilets in the past in other countries, but as I already had one recent cortisone shot in my right knee and my deep squatting days ended somewhere in the late 2000s, this was not on option and I immediately began to walk backwards out of the stall…quickly. Fortunately, sanity prevailed on the part of Turkish Airlines and there were some stalls, now unoccupied, for those of us who absolutely require the modern facilities of life!

Our first day in Capetown can only be described as “jam-packed,” and why should this vacation be any different from others? We took a funicular to the top of “Table Mountain” to see breathtaking city views, drove through the various ethnic communities, including the Moslem neighborhood with beautiful century-old homes all painted in different vibrant colors, and visited a neighborhood close to the sea (the South Atlantic, Judy looked it up) with magnificent landscapes.

And that was the morning.

We had booked tickets on the Robben Island Ferry, the place in which South African political prisoners were held during Apartheid, including Nelson Mandela for 18 of his 27 years held as a prisoner.  We didn’t want to miss this important, historical site but were told that the last ferry to the island left at 3 pm and if we missed that we would not be able to visit the island, because of course, our remaining two days in Capetown were equally packed with places to visit.  Our plan was to see all that we could see in the city, arrive at the ferry and grab something to eat close by.  The terminal is located on a beautiful wharf with boutiques, shops and restaurants everywhere.  The problem was that except for a KFC, “grabbing something” and running was a bit of a problem.  This was a classy neck-of-the woods and we realized we would have to sit down and eat because even though fried chicken from the Colonel is quite tasty, there would just not be enough water available for four middle-aged Americans (I use that phrase generously) to dilute all the salt we would consume in those chicken legs!  

We sat down at a restaurant table directly across from the ferry and explained to the waiter our time-crunch and could we quickly get something to eat.  We had a few ideas from the menu, but nearly all of them were dashed because they took far longer to prepare than our ever-shrinking lunchtime would allow.  I panicked and ordered calamari, something I would never order in the day time because of the link between me eating a heavy lunch and struggling to stay awake in the afternoon.  We ordered and then waited, as we fretfully watched other fellow travelers enter the ferry terminal. Our orders came, we immediately asked for the check and then dug into the food with great gusto. None of us said a word recognizing that there was no time for idle chit-chat as we had a ferry to catch! After eating in record time, paying the bill and running across to the ferry station, I tried to munch on a few Tums, now thinking that fried calamari and a 45 minute ferry ride may not be a great combination.

Little did I know that I would have so much time to digest. The terminal was packed and Judy immediately asked whether we thought that we are all going to fit on that ferry? After a 30 minute delay, we learned that the answer was “NO.” Unbeknownst to us, the documentation stating that the 3 pm ferry being the last ferry to Robben Island appeared to be far more flexible than we had realized.  The already late last ship was overbooked and naturally, another ferry would just be added on.  This is the end of winter here in South Africa and by the time we completed a three hour tour of this fascinating prison, it was pitch dark.  As we walked on the dark, uneven paths, all I could think of was  that this was a lawsuit in the making!

While this is an absolutely beautiful country, I cannot end this blog without writing about one of the most amazing things about our visit so far….the prices on everything are so much cheaper than at home.  I recognize that New York metropolitan prices (the area in which we live)  can be steep, but the cost of things just add to its beauty! At every meal, Bob has taken out his calculator out to figure out the price in US dollars and then smiled with great abandon!  It’s unfortunate that it’s a pretty long commute for a very good meal!