Our Time in Hout Bay & Cape Town

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We’ve enjoyed our time in Hout Bay – a nice combination of relaxing to get over jet-lag, daily walks to the beach and town and outings.

Uber is readily available in the Cape Town area, so we combined a trip to the V&A Waterfront and an early dinner in Codfather, Camps Bay.

Wandering through the Waterfront brings back many memories as we rented apartments in the V&A area before we started staying in Hout Bay. It is still nice to visit, but we prefer the less busy Hout Bay.

Love this view of Table Mountain. The low-rise reddish building is the Cape Grace Hotel and behind that are apartments and the One and Only Hotel.
When we stayed in this area we would pass by the seals daily when we walked from our apartment to the waterfront. As usual, today the seals were enjoying the sun.
We always take a picture of Nobel Square – we have a great backdrop with Table Mountain and blue skies. The sculptures pay tribute to South Africa`s four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: activist Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former State President FW de Klerk and former President Nelson Mandela.

From past trips to South Africa, Codfather became our favourite seafood restaurant – and it didn’t disappoint this year. We like going around 4:00 as we don’t need a reservation and we can avoid the crowds/noise. The seafood was so fresh – we had Kingklip, Scallops and calamari. All were perfectly cooked.

We spent a day with Michele and Ken. We met Michele and Ken in Canada last year when they visited Margaret and John. After seeing our SA beaded scultures they wanted to take us to see the works of Robin Kutinyu ( a friend of theirs). Robin started out with stone sculptures and then moved to bronze, producing amazing, and large, pieces of equestrian art (which has become his focus as noted on his Facebook page). Robin shows at equestrian events and also has many large pieces in the gardens of a Stellenbosch vineyard. Robin’s works reminded us of the early works of Dylan Lewis, a South African artist who has emerged as one of the foremost figures in contemporary sculpture. 

Robin explained the bronze sculpture process – it takes months to produce his larger pieces. The leopard is in the “wax stage”. He had smaller leopard pieces he was working on, but still too large and expensive for us to bring home – although Larry was tempted.

After our visit to Robin’s storage unit, we had lunch at 96 Winery Road, Ken Forrester Vineyards. This is a small, young (only opened in 1996), vineyard which we had not been to before. The wine and lunch were wonderful – we will definitely visit again.

Lovely lunch with Michele and Ken

Sunday was a “relax by the pool” day, followed by a beach walk. We ended up at Dunes Restaurant and Bar where we enjoyed a bottle of rose and dinner. It is nice to be able to walk to/from the restaurant to our hotel. As you will see from the photos below, dark clouds would move through, but it didn’t rain – it was a lovely spot to have dinner.

View from the Dunes Restaurant – this is looking towards Chapman’s Peak.
Sunset taken from the upper deck at Dunes Restaurant. Ominous black clouds but they passed by.

Our final night in Hout Bay, we had dinner at Michele and Ken’s home. As you will see below, they have a wonderful view of Hout Bay and the mountains. Ria, another friend of Margaret and John’s, joined the dinner – it was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening.

Up early this morning (Feb. 8th) as we had a flight to Skukuza, which is the gateway to our safari adventures. We will be back in Hout Bay (Part 2) on February 14th – this time Deb and Lauchlyn will join us.

Small plane but very good flight
Do you see the teddy bear in the clouds?

One thought on “Our Time in Hout Bay & Cape Town”

  1. We are thoroughly enjoying your vacation this year and embracing in the moments. You describe everything so well; we feel like we’re there with you.

    So nice for you both to be able to meet up with Michelle and Ken. We’re proud of your willpower to refrain from bringing home a bronze sculpture, as unique as they were.

    Reading about your trip to the V&A Waterfront brings back such great memories. We loved it there! And it wouldn’t be a vacation without your return to Codfather’s and enjoying Kingklip. You even made me like a seafood restaurant. 😊 We knew exactly where you were with the seals and are enjoying all your great photos.

    We’re sharing a toast to you both as you enjoy SA.

    Hugs, TnT

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