Cape Town Travels

Where to even begin with Cape Town omg. I’m in love with every single thing about Cape Town, I am ready to pack all of my things and move there. The scenery with Table Mountain, the history with the apartheid, the nightlife, restaurants/food, and endless things to do. Each day and night in Cape Town were packed with activities and I still feel like I didn’t even scratch the surface of what is really out there. It is a city with this incredibly beautiful culmination of vibrancy, history, and nature. I never wanted a day to end because I was having way too much fun (and some of them didn’t end… aka going to bed at 6am). 

The sea stretch before Cape Town was full of festivities for my bestie girl Melia’s bday, and it didn’t stop there. Once we arrived in Cape Town there were more festivities to be had because Melia deserves the entire world and more. In just a few months she has become one of my best friends in the entire world and I cannot imagine life without her. Her birthday was March 6 which was a few days into Cape Town so I had plenty of time to plan the surprise party I wanted to throw her. 

We arrived March 3 and me, Melia, two other girls, and two other guys had decided to rent an airbnb about 5 minutes from the center of everything. The first day I had booked a Field Program. This one was just a day trip that took me to a few museums and then Table Mountain. Before the program I had some time so me and the girls went to the V & A Waterfront to walk around. It’s a mall and also where the huge beachfront area is. It is like an indoor/outdoor mall with places to eat, so many things to do, a harbor, etc. Then I had to part ways as Table Mountain was calling. While I wish I had the opportunity to hike Table Mountain, that is an activity my friends are not really in for, so on the program we took the cable cars up. Once on the top the view was absolutely insane. I bought a few aperol spritzes that I had been craving, chatted with new friends, and enjoyed where I was. I was able to sigh out of the program early which was perfect because I wanted to meetup with my friends at the Airbnb. They had spent the day exploring as well and had to head back to the ship to pack their stuff so I ended up beating them to the apartment. Since I couldn’t check in without the girl who did it, I decided to walk to the store and get the essentials: raspberries and alcohol (lol). Before Cape Town we couldn’t drink the water, eat any fruit, etc. It felt so nice to be in a place that felt a bit more like home after traveling Asia and Africa for months. I don’t even know how to put Cape Town into words it is one of my most favorite places ever. I could be there forever. Anyways, back to what we did. Once I came back with the essentials my friends were at the Airbnb and we got situated. This Airbnb was actually so incredible. We had the most magical view of the entire city on our gorgeous balcony. Melia, the boys, and I drank champagne on the balcony watched the sunset, chatted, and listened to music… it was perfect. We then took a little walk around the city (to be fully transparent we were looking for more alcohol). Little tip, Cape Town doesn’t sell alcohol in stores after 8pm which unfortunately we found out the hard way. We headed back to our apartment with pizza on the way. We carb loaded before getting ready to go out. My new favorite activity at a pregame is playing Just Dance on the TV and everyone dancing along. It was hysterical. I did end up staying up until 6:00 AM which may not have been my brightest idea considering I had to be up at 6:45 AM the next morning. 

Those 45 minutes of sleep were certainly not enough, but Melia and I had to wake up to go on a Field Program. We had scheduled kayaking through Cape Town and rushed our booties over to the boat with minutes left to spare only for the program to get canceled. Yes, you heard that right… we absolutely could have stayed in our cozy little beds dreaming sweet thoughts. However, it was hilarious because we rushed so furiously. Anyhow, to be so fully honest I was still drunk so we grabbed some breakfast and then went right back to sleep. After sleeping we went out on the town! We went back to the V & A Waterfront where we literally spent so much collective time because it was so much fun. On this day it was so nice to have some Ella and Melia time because she’s my girl and I don’t know how, but we never get sick of each other. We got some drinks, walked around, and explored. Then it was time to go back to our beautiful apartment and meet our friends. We got ready and went to the coolest speakeasy I found. I literally made reservations and then received the most fun WhatsApp message about the location and their “rules.” They made a whole list of cheeky, hilarious “rules” to follow in the bar. We arrived and went down this random street with laundry hung up, went through a back room, and into this gorgeous speakeasy that was Gatsby themed. We ate peanuts and threw the shells on the floors and ordered the most creative drinks (mine came out of an Asian food container!). We went back to the V & A Waterfront to meet our friends for dinner, but had an early night. 

The entrance!

The next day Melia and I went on the most fabulous wine tour. We woke up and wanted to make sure we ate a good breakfast before we indulged in the various wines of the region. We door dashed bagels and acai bowls because after a long stint of not being able to eat fruit or drink the tap water, we could finally have the most glorious strawberries. We got ready and hopped in the car that picked us up, along with other people, and took us to our first stop. It was so much fun doing this wine tour just us two because then we could also meet new people! We had a cheese tasting along with wines, then the next place we had wine and lunch, and we ended at a stop with chocolate and wine. So so much fun and delicious. Then, for dinner, Melia and I went with our two guy friends to this really great sushi restaurant also at the V & A Waterfront. Since the next day was Melia’s birthday, I ordered a special dessert and we sang to her. 

In the morning, the day of my beautiful besties birth, we woke up super early to go deep sea fishing with some of our other guy friends. This was honestly one of the best days ever. Unfortunately, Melia got super sea sick, but she still made the best of the day. Our fishing guides were literally incredible and so nice and made the trip even better. We all caught huge tunas and it was exhilarating. The day was perfect. We got back with our awesome catches and headed to the bar at the waterfront with our guides and all got drinks together. Then, it was time to pull off the surprise. My other friends set up the apartment for the surprise pregame. The issue was they wanted us to get drinks, but Cape Town doesn’t sell alcohol in stores after around 8pm which had unfortunately already passed. My friend and I quickly tried to think of a way to get drinks without letting Melia or our other friend who’s birthday it was know. He came up with an idea to go to a bar and ask them and luckily they helped us a bit under the table. We pulled the pregame off and all headed to the bars together after that. Such a fun day and night and the Cape Town nightlife is super fun!

Cape Town was packed full of adventure and activities and on this day we decided to go to a tattoo and piercing place! My friends got tattoos, but I got 4 piercings and I love them so much. After that, my other friend and I were going to go paragliding with his roommate, but after we all made it all the way to the top of the mountain, we heard that the wind was too strong which was super super unfortunate. My friend had the idea to go on a boat cruise instead so we rushed to the V & A Waterfront and just made it to the boat. It was so much fun to be on the water because although we were always on the ship, it is still so different and lovely. We had champagne and watched the sun go down and got the best views of Cape Town. I am still so in awe of this beautiful place. We met some other friends at dinner for a final dinner all together on the beach. Melia and I had to head back to the ship because we had a field class the next morning. 

This field class was actually incredible. It was for my art history class and we went to a few neighborhoods within Cape Town. We made a mural with a famous muralist with the theme “Love is Love” and he told us to do whatever our hearts desired. We made it at a school for primary school children and it was so special because some of the kids came to help us make the mural. I connected with these special, amazing kids and we spent the entire day together. My friend and I let them splatter paint and finger paint all over us and they absolutely loved it. We then walked around the neighborhoods looking at all the murals and learning about their purpose. It was one of the best days- so special, unique, and incredible. The perfect way to conclude Cape Town. 

This will be my last day-by-day travel post from Semester at Sea. I am slowly coming back into reality and struggling a bit with missing my incredible new besties and the place I called home for 4 months. While I am happy to be home, it is certainly an adjustment. I will be back shortly with more blogs about SAS life and how I’m getting back into the swing of things!