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Day
1
(October 3, 2022) Flight and arrival at Cape Town
Before
We will leave the previous day at 4:50 PM to arrive in Istanbul
around midnight, where we will board our final flight after two and a
half hours at Ataturk airport. Our flight to Cape Town is planned to
take more than ten hours.
The arrival in the South African city is scheduled for noon, so
we could spend the afternoon shopping and visiting the city center, the
area where we are staying.
The spots marked at map are:
0- Urban Oasisi apartments
1- Castle of Good Hope
2- City Hall
3- Greenmarket
4- Long street
5- Bo Kaap
6- Supermarket
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After
We arrive in Istanbul at the scheduled time but find that
our flight to Cape Town is delayed an hour and a half, forcing us to
kill three and a half hours at Ataturk airport.
 
We land in Cape Town shortly before 1PM. The immigration
procedures are very fast and the taxi that we had already hired by 20€
leaves us at the address that we had received by email to check in our
apartment at nearly 2PM.
 
It is a large large eatery with a circular bar in the
middle, several food stalls on one side and tables, the reception desk
and the entrance to the spa on the other. When I withdraw 3000R from
the cashier next to the desk it charges me about €5 commission, so next
time I'll try to get the most out of it.
 
They take us in a minivan to the building where our
apartment is, just a block away. The apartment is spacious and has
spectacular views of Table Mountain.
We go out to eat to the same place we came from. We chose
the Thai food stall and paid 119R each for two generous prawn pad thai
dishes which are delicious. We paid an additional 60R at the bar for
our drinks: a coke and a glass of wine. 298R in total, which is less
than 18€.
 
It's getting late so we go down to the City Hall and the
spacious square in front of it, the Grand Parade, to admire the
building and the realistic statue of Nelson Mandela waving to the
public in the same spot where he made his first speech after his
release from prison.
   
Then we go to the Castle of Good Hope, just at one side of
that same square, to look at its entrance and exteriors. It's 5PM so,
as the supermarket closes at 6PM, we head there to not missing the
shopping that we need.
 
After leaving our goodies in the apartment, we go out for a
last visit. We wanted to reach Bo Kaap, but it's quickly getting dark
and we notice that the atmosphere in this area has changed: we're
constantly stopped by people asking for money, so we turn to the
entrance to Company's Gardens to avoid being outside at dark.
This is a long straight path going through the park
until
its other side, apparently without any other exit, that we walk alone,
except for a couple of runners. Here there is the largest concentration
of museums in the city, although they are now all closed. Most
attractions in the city close between 5pm and 6pm.
 
We arrived at the apartment on the verge of dusk and went up
to the rooftop, where the pool and gym are, to enjoy the views and then
go down to rest for the day that awaits us tomorrow.
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