Foodie Heaven in Cape Town

When I planned our round-the-world itinerary, I knew we would want to balance our periods of slow travel with periods of higher-intensity tourism. Our stay in Europe began with fast-paced scenery changes then gradually slowed to a month-long stay in southern Germany and a leisurely meander through Italy, Spain, France and Belgium to finish our tour of the continent. We shifted into high gear for our eight day tour of Morocco, and to let that experience settle in to our psyches, we rented a beach house in the Camps Bay section of Cape Town, South Africa.

We spent six great nights here. The house was beautiful and very comfortable. Our host was helpful and generous and attentive. The neighbors invited us over for drinks and fireworks views on Guy Fawkes Night (travel serendipity #3, if you’re counting). We woke to Table Mountain cloaked in clouds, took a scenic drive (on the left) down to Boulders Beach to see African penguins and walked to dinner during glowing sunsets. The absolute highlight of our restful stay in Cape Town, though, was the food.

On the first night in town, we walked to the local Pick ’N Pay to buy groceries. Theo cooked a delicious pasta carbonara. The house was incredibly well stocked with cooking utensils and spices, so we ate well that night and each breakfast. Being on the Atlantic seaboard, though, Cape Town does a lot of seafood, so we made sure to eat out for that. We tried a place called The Codfather that is basically a fish market that cooks your selection to order and wraps the dining experience up with a date-night feel. There was Italian and pub food and more along Victoria Road, the main drag in Camps Bay. Our favorite place, though, was breakfast and lunch joint called Baked Bistro.

We ate at Baked at least three times. The food was fresh and comforting. It reminded us of two of our favorite places at home - Sidamo Coffee and Tea in Maple Lawn and Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia. The staff treated us like favorite regulars, and I was amazed at how quickly this place came to feel like “our place”.

The travel guides and food review sites tell much more about Cape Town’s food scene. Some of the world’s top-rated restaurants are here. We didn’t eat at those, but our sampling of a local slice of the food scene impressed us all the same.

Canyons, Carpets and Casbahs

One of our stops on this 9-day tour was Todra Gorge. It’s the “Grand Canyon of Morocco”, and it is gorgeous. Our hotel was built into one side, near the river and looking up at the opposite canyon wall. A fifteen minute drive away was the visitor site of Todra Gorge itself, where a road was built along the river. We walked along, snapped awesome pictures, saw some “climbers”, several merchants, and even a few donkeys. The weather was sunny and pleasant - not warm or cold.

We drove back into the village and walked through some terrace fields for farming. We saw how the irrigation works. We made our way to the Berber carpet cooperative. They served us mint tea - and showed us how to make it - then explained about the carpet making. The women use sheep wool, camel wool, baby camel wool, and agave silk. They weave, embroider, and knot the yarn they have carded and dyed using natural pigments. Each family has a style and each carpet tells a story.

After buying two carpets, we returned to the hotel for lunch and leisure time by the pool. It was the most relaxed we had felt in days. The pool was too cold, as was the autumn air, so no swimming for us. Then we hit the road again, this time to Dades Gorge. There was a brief stop for Theo to pick up a SIM card. There was another stop for photos. We also passed the road of 1000 Kasbahs. Not quite a thousand, but there were lots. There was a moment when we passed the largest silver mine in Africa, and Theo used the opportunity for a teachable moment to ask how it is that we have pockets of stuff like silver and gold and whatnot. Gianna offered up “magnetics” but Theo heard “Bananics” which sounds like a word I must bring into usage. We checked in to the hotel and were given a choice of two rooms. The first room was a suite with two large bedrooms that each slept four, a living room, and a bathroom. We took the chance to all be under the same “roof”. The only drawback was a lack of heat. There were plenty of warm blankets, though. We were in bed, lights out, around 8 p.m.

The next day was another heavy driving day. As we drove on some more, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for our trip. Gratitude for the pace working in our favor, for getting our travel feet wet in Europe and working out some of the kinks of extended travel in a place with a lot of familiarity. It seems like the kids are really beginning to make connections between places and experiences.

Our final rural stop was in Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mustapha took us out for a late afternoon tour of the historic village. We came across a local guide who offered us an impromptu tour of the casbah. The upper floors bounced and the stairwells were steep and pitch dark. It was an amazing look at the historical architecture of Morocco. Mustapha took us on, telling us more about the village as we climbed to the top of the hill, which was the site of the village granary. From here we sat and watched a magnificent sunset. There was a large tour group there with us, as well as a smattering of other tourists, and they burst into applause as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Sleeping in the Saraha

As the big day arrived, camel trekking day, I was apprehensive. We left Ouarzazate and drove on and on through the Anti-Atlas mountains and then out on the plateau. The hours ticked by and I felt an increasing homesickness, in an all-full-of-traveling sort of way. I think connections through texting and calls and social media have really been keeping me happy to be on an adventure even when things were disappointing. Something about the desolate landscape was too much to withstand the feeling of loneliness and disconnection.

We arrived in the town of Rissani for lunch and a rest before driving on to meet the camels. The hotel was very, very nice. There was no one there, that we could see, but there were many rooms, a pool, a nice outdoor lounge area, and a good restaurant. After lunch, we rested in the sun by the pool for a bit.

The drive from Rissani was more of the desolate desert landscapes. Then, we went off-road. In the van. Bravo, Ahmed. Still, by the time we arrived at the “trailhead” to meet the camels, I was even more nervous. Sand storms were brewing, and I was not looking forward to being pelted with sand for an hour. Fortunately, the winds abated a bit. I was assigned the lead camel, followed by Tori, Gianna, Zoe, Theo, Mustapha, and the supply camel. The guide led our camel train on foot, holding a leash to my camel. Sitting on the camel as it stood up was a bit of a shock, as was anytime it went uphill or down hill. The winds whipped at times, and were calm at others. It was late afternoon, and the sunlight was gorgeous on the dunes. Theo took pictures, but I couldn’t reach my camera. I was definitely not enjoying the sand whipping our faces, and even though we were wrapped in headscarves and wore sunglasses, we were still stung in the eyes a bit. At other times, though, when the wind was calm, I felt a bit peaceful. It reminded me of kayaking, at least, of the feeling I get when I am in a calming rhythm on the water. Tori and Gianna absolutely loved riding the camels. Gianna would holler out, “This is GREAT!” several times. Tori chatted on and on happily, even as her turban came untied and her saddle blankets repeatedly fell off of her camel. On the whole, I’d characterize the trek as surreal.

We arrived at the camp at last, just as the sun was setting. We rearranged some mattresses for us all to be in one tent, then the kids went sand boarding while the guides cooked dinner. We were presented with mint tea and olives and peanuts as a snack. Dinner came after nightfall - stewed vegetables with rice, turkey skewers, beef tagine, and apples and oranges for dessert. It was all so delicious, much like the lunch in Rissani. After dinner, we watched lightning in the clouds far from us. Mustapha guessed, and seemed confident that the storms would stay over the mountains but create some wind here. Not many minutes later, we were making plans to move to another camp because the tents in our camp had tears in either the sides or the roofs. The men feared that the rain would actually come our way, so we needed to be in better tents. Everyone quickly moved our belongings to the newer camp “next door”, so new that it wasn’t finished yet. Our tent didn’t have a door, so the men sewed one up that night. Of course, after all of that the storms did pass around us. Under the bright light of a full moon, we made a fire and made music with Abdul and Mustapha. They sang traditional Berber songs, we sang “Twinkle Twinkle”, then we all sang “Three Little Birds”.

We returned to our tents to sleep in an absolutely serene night. Well, it would have been serene if all the children had been well and able to sleep through the night. Zoe came down with a head cold and her runny nose really, really got to her. For some reason, she also needed to urinate more often. I later learned that all of us felt a more frequent urge to go than normal. Our initial tents had been very close to the bathroom. Our new tent was quite a distance away. We lost one of Tori’s flip flops on one trip, but found it. She stepped on some construction debris on the other trip and screamed because she thought it was a snake.

Morning came very early and we didn’t leave on time, but we did leave close to daybreak and rode the camels back to the hotel at the trailhead. We were all on different camels this time. I didn’t like or feel comfortable on any part of this ride. On top of that, I was the photographer. It was very difficult, but I think we got some good shots. The kids didn’t feel well, even after breakfast, but this was definitely an experience none of us will ever forget.