As I’m in the process of planning (and paying!) for my wedding, I find myself unusually broke most times of the month these days. Resultantly, I have found tons of things to do in Cape Town that costs nothing and simply have these share them.

Cape Town offers loads of outdoor activities with the beautiful Table Mountain (just been confirmed as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature!) in our back garden, the beach and forests in such close proximity.

Here are some of my favourites:

Seapoint Promenade is a popular meeting place for Capetonians. For the fitter amongst you, it’s the perfect place for a sunset run, power walk or workout at the outdoor gym. For everyone else, a walk in the fresh air and an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful views from the promenade is a great early evening out! A walk in the mountain or one of the beautiful natural forests in Cape Town is a treat! Table Mountain and Lion’s Head offers a number of really beautiful walks, ranging from easy to difficult. You can enjoy a picnic on top of Table Mountain or a full moon hike up to the top of Lion’s Head.

Newlands Forest is a quick 10-15 minute drive from the centre of town and offers a beautiful, safe forest with plenty parking and beautiful freshwater streams coming down the mountain. There are lots of runners, walkers with dogs and children during summer and on weekends. Cecilia Forest and Constantia Neck are a little bit further from town but also offer beautiful settings for enjoyable, safe walks with your family or doggies.

Perhaps you prefer a more leisurely stroll? The Company’s Garden includes beautifully landscaped gardens that are one of the oldest in Cape Town. Watch out for the squirrels, they are so cheeky and tame; they might very well climb onto your lap!

During the summer months, the V&A Waterfront Amphitheatre offer free music concerts; check the dates at one of their tourism information booths. De Waal Park in Gardens/Oranjezicht offer free concerts every second Sunday during summer – nothing better than taking a picnic, sitting under the trees with a glass of bubbly and listening to some chilled Sunday vibes as the sun slowly sets.

The City Bowl Market in Hope Street and the Neighbourgoods Market at the Biscuit Mill, Woodstock are two of the best Saturday markets in the city. Further out, there are the Hout Bay market and the Blue Bird Garage market in Muizenberg – all offering plenty of food and drinks to sample (and hopefully tobuy!). In addition, it’s a great place to pick up a reasonably priced breakfast in a social, local setting.

Free wine tastings at:

– Wine Concepts (Kloof street) daily

– Brewers & Union on Thursday nights (remember to book first)

– Tjing Tjing from 5pm onwards on Wednesdays plus meet the winemakers!

– Don’t forget the numerous wine farms where you can enjoy a free wine tasting and a walk around the beautiful manor houses and wine estates – visit Buitenverwachting, Steenberg Vineyards, Uitsig and many others for a taste of the Cape!

Entrance to many of Cape Town’s museums is free on public holidays:

The South African Museum is situated across from the Company’s Gardens and features an exhibit of the indigenous peoples of SA and interesting artifacts in human and natural sciences.

To learn more about the history of Bo-Kaap and Islam in Cape Town, you should visit the Bo-Kaap museum. The houses, shops and mosques in the area are painted in beautiful, bright colours and makes for a visually stimulating walk around this neighborhood.

The Holocaust Centre in Hatfield Street pays tribute to the Holocaust victims and draws comparison to the wrongs of apartheid in South Africa.

Aside from the visual entertainment at Greenmarket Square, the Old Town House was Cape Town’s first public building. It is now houses the one of the most significant collections of Dutch paintings outside Europe and North America (Michaelis Collection) as an art museum. There are many more museums and galleries in Cape Town – visit the tourism centre in Burg street for more detailed information.

Enjoy!

Since my previous post about Cape Town being in the running for the host of the World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town has indeed been awarded this prestigious right on 26 October 2011, beating hopefuls Bilboa in Spain and Dublin in Ireland.

This basically means that there will now be a heightened awareness of how design impacts on our city and how we can encourage our creative citizens to partake in the initiatives. So if you’re walking around Cape Town, look around. REALLY LOOK AROUND. From the bridge built over Buitengracht Street as part of the fan walk down Waterkant street to the statues telling a story about a girl and a dragonfly (illustrating learning how to understand each other and walking alongside each other), from the strange rocking horses (also on Sea Point promenade) to the developing area around Harrington street in a rather neglected and forgotten part of town, etc. These are only some of the creative initiatives around our city, if you look around and explore the city, you will find more.

The focus of this period up until 2014 is to facilitate the impact of design on urban space, economies and our citizens. As more and more people globally move into cities, we have to prepare our cities to be resilient to this influx and to offer sustainable solutions to all its inhabitants.

2014 is also the 20 year anniversary of South African democracy which will present an opportunity to imagine the next 20 years as a period of further growth and inclusivity for our city.

To support one of the city’s design initiatives, we will be attending the Food & Film night at Freeworld Design Centre. Food & Film is a “delectable series of themed evenings where renowned foodies introduce their favourite food movie accompanied by a feast designed to fit the film by food artist Jacques Erasmus of Hemelhuijs”. We will be watching “Babette’s Feast” with food prepared by Clare Mack from Spill.co.za  – I’m so excited about it! Such a creative yet simple idea!

As a further celebration of Cape Town and ultimately, South Africa, as an emerging nation of designers and creative explorers, the latest issue of Wallpaper magazine features South Africa as one of the world's ten leading style and design nations. Their fabulous November 2011 issue features eight pages of South Africa’s emerging fashion designers, latest architectural projects and its growing art scene. Apparently the ipad edition has some additional bits, can’t wait to see it.

So, discover Cape Town and its little idiosyncrasies, this is what give our city character and in my opinion, what keeps my fascination with her alive and well. Till next time!

 

Since my previous post about Cape Town being in the running for the host of the World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town has indeed been awarded this prestigious right on 26 October 2011, beating hopefuls Bilboa in Spain and Dublin in Ireland.
This basically means that there will now be a heightened awareness of how design impacts on our city and how we can encourage our creative citizens to partake in the initiatives. So if you’re walking around Cape Town, look around. REALLY LOOK AROUND. From the bridge built over Buitengracht Street as part of the fan walk down Waterkant street to the statues telling a story about a girl and a dragonfly (illustrating learning how to understand each other and walking alongside each other), from the strange rocking horses (also on Sea Point promenade) to the developing area around Harrington street in a rather neglected and forgotten part of town, etc. These are only some of the creative initiatives around our city, if you look around and explore the city, you will find more.
The focus of this period up until 2014 is to facilitate the impact of design on urban space, economies and our citizens. As more and more people globally move into cities, we have to prepare our cities to be resilient to this influx and to offer sustainable solutions to all its inhabitants.
2014 is also the 20 year anniversary of South African democracy which will present an opportunity to imagine the next 20 years as a period of further growth and inclusivity for our city.
To support one of the city’s design initiatives, we will be attending the Food & Film night at Freeworld Design Centre. Food & Film is a “delectable series of themed evenings where renowned foodies introduce their favourite food movie accompanied by a feast designed to fit the film by food artist Jacques Erasmus of Hemelhuijs”. We will be watching “Babette’s Feast” with food prepared by Clare Mack from Spill.co.za – I’m so excited about it! Such a creative yet simple idea!
As a further celebration of Cape Town and ultimately, South Africa, as an emerging nation of designers and creative explorers, the latest issue of Wallpaper magazine features South Africa as one of the world's ten leading style and design nations. Their fabulous November 2011 issue features eight pages of South Africa’s emerging fashion designers, latest architectural projects and its growing art scene. Apparently the ipad edition has some additional bits, can’t wait to see it.
So, discover Cape Town and its little idiosyncrasies, this is what give our city character and in my opinion, what keeps my fascination with her alive and well. Till next time!

Since my previous post about Cape Town being in the running for the host of the World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town has indeed been awarded this prestigious right on 26 October 2011, beating hopefuls Bilboa in Spain and Dublin in Ireland.

This basically means that there will now be a heightened awareness of how design impacts on our city and how we can encourage our creative citizens to partake in the initiatives. So if you’re walking around Cape Town, look around. REALLY LOOK AROUND. From the bridge built over Buitengracht Street as part of the fan walk down Waterkant street to the statues telling a story about a girl and a dragonfly (illustrating learning how to understand each other and walking alongside each other), from the strange rocking horses (also on Sea Point promenade) to the developing area around Harrington street in a rather neglected and forgotten part of town, etc. These are only some of the creative initiatives around our city, if you look around and explore the city, you will find more.

The focus of this period up until 2014 is to facilitate the impact of design on urban space, economies and our citizens. As more and more people globally move into cities, we have to prepare our cities to be resilient to this influx and to offer sustainable solutions to all its inhabitants.

2014 is also the 20 year anniversary of South African democracy which will present an opportunity to imagine the next 20 years as a period of further growth and inclusivity for our city.

To support one of the city’s design initiatives, we will be attending the Food & Film night at Freeworld Design Centre. Food & Film is a “delectable series of themed evenings where renowned foodies introduce their favourite food movie accompanied by a feast designed to fit the film by food artist Jacques Erasmus of Hemelhuijs”. We will be watching “Babette’s Feast” with food prepared by Clare Mack from Spill.co.za  – I’m so excited about it! Such a creative yet simple idea!

As a further celebration of Cape Town and ultimately, South Africa, as an emerging nation of designers and creative explorers, the latest issue of Wallpaper magazine features South Africa as one of the world's ten leading style and design nations. Their fabulous November 2011 issue features eight pages of South Africa’s emerging fashion designers, latest architectural projects and its growing art scene. Apparently the ipad edition has some additional bits, can’t wait to see it.

So, discover Cape Town and its little idiosyncrasies, this is what give our city character and in my opinion, what keeps my fascination with her alive and well. Till next time!

One of the most exciting projects our city has committed to is our bid and achievement as one of the 3 chosen finalists for the World Design Capital 2014.  WDC2014 is a prestigious status by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to cities dedicated to using design for social, cultural and economic development.  This bi-annual title gives the winning city an opportunity to showcase its achievements and aspirations through a 12 month programme of design-driven events and activities.

A very important component of this bid, as project managed by Cape Town Partnership through its Creative Cape Town programme, is the development of The Fringe: Cape Town’s Innovation District is the design and informatics hub planned for the area bordered by Roeland and Darling Streets, Buitenkant and Canterbury Streets, and the area also includes a strip of land that connects it to CPUT from Longmarket through to Tennant Street.

The Fringe is modeled on an urban “science park” which refers to an organisation managed by specialised professionals for community prosperity, promoting innovation and competitive integration of education and commerce. Well known science parks are based in and called: 22@Barcelona, Toronto Fashion Incubator and Design London.

Besides building area these parks offer a number of shared resources such as uninterruptible power supply, reception, telecommunications hubs, security, restaurants, management offices, banks, parking, entertainment/sports facilities, etc. In this way, the park offers considerable advantages to hosted companies, by reducing overhead costs with these facilities.

Science and technology parks are encouraged by local government as it attract new companies to towns, expand their tax base as well as creating employment opportunities to citizens. The vision has been to create “the premier African environment for design, media and ICT innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship” and the project is heavily supported by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism through its Cape Catalyst Initiative.

Please support Cape Town’s bid to be the World Design Capital 2014. Go to www.capetown2014.co.za

Table Mountain has become synonymous with Cape Town as an iconic and recognisable feature of the Mother City, hence I like to think of ‘her’ as our wise old grandmother.

Aside from all the obvious exercise benefits of having such an adventurous playground in your backyard, the reality is that she serves as a beacon to all new and directionally-challenged Capetonians. When I first moved to Cape Town I used to get lost regularly but could then figure out my intended direction with the help of the mountain. That was not the only time I benefitted from her ‘maternal’ nature!

Ancient civilizations believed certain mountains had sacred powers to heal or provide answers on life’s most complex questions. There are even biblical references to leaders going into the mountains to pray, meditate and seek answers. I must admit that I have felt something close to meditation when going for a run in the mountain after a stressful day: The quiet almost serves as a buffer from the outside world; the beautiful fresh air, the salty breeze of the ocean on my skin, the rhythmic sound of my shoes on the pine needles and my eyes focused on the trail. This is the place where I can reassess my day and work through unclear thoughts. I even try to imagine breathing out the negative and inhaling the positive!

The reason I know there is something to the ‘power of the mountain’ story, is that I have never returned from a walk or run in the mountain feeling worse; I might not have solved the dilemma I then struggled with but at least I came back feeling peaceful and secure that the correct solution to my problem will be presented at the right time. It’s almost as it I went up the mountain to present my problem to my wise old granny where she listening, nodded knowingly, have me a long, loving hug and send me back down with instructions to go to bed early and sleep on it.

I think there is a life lesson to be learnt here: Although it took her millions of years to morph into her current shape and form, she is constantly changing, evolving. Maybe she sheds a rock face, sends water down a different ravine to feed the plants or coat herself in lush greenery after a generous bout of rain. Humans inherently like what they know and know what they like, so we are not necessarily designed to like or encourage change. However, change is a rewarding and generous visitor; she tends to leave you richer, fuller and more confident than before.

So this is my challenge to you, do something that challenge you at least once a week, if you’re brave enough even once a day!

As you might know, Table Mountain is in the running to become one of the New7Wonders of Nature. The New7Wonders will be announced on 11 November 2011 and we need your help to ensure our place in the history books. If you are living in South Africa you an SMS “Table” to 34874 (R2 per sms and you can sms as many times are you like). Alternative, you may vote on www.votefortablemountain.com.

My travels around town exhausted me. Here – two women, half naked, with faces distorted and swollen by cheap alcohol. There – a man with no limbs. To my right, a car-guard who walked from Rwanda. On the left – a mother pimping her child, shames motorists into giving more. Up ahead: Big Issue sellers, joke retailers, roadside florists, avocado pear merchants, strawberry salesmen.

I'm worn out. Nothing I do can fix this. I'm fresh out of change.

But somebody's got tin. Graft, thievery, gravy-trainism, private and Presidential family-enrichment, cronyism… go on. And on. Constantly questioned by the media. Never answered by the ANC.

It's become a national joke. Even showing up in a radio advertisement:
Politico: “Comrades – We must nationalise the mines.
Comrades: “Yes. Yeah. Yebo. Yeah Man.”
“We must limit the media.
Yes. Yeah, Yebo. Yeah Man!
And Comrades – we must share the wealth.
Aiiie, Suga, man, it's our wealth. Now you are going too far.”

A friend tells of being threatened on his tomato farm – “give me half and I will allow you to stay on the land”; his price for refusal – poisoned water holes.

Another mourns the loss of a pineapple farm. His local councillor, when refused a 'free' 50% share of the farm – simply dug up the access roads . Halting the farm trucks. Sending 348 people – workers and their families, flocking to the nearest traffic lights.

Gareth Cliff, a South African DJ, wrote an open letter on his blog to President Jacob Zuma this week (www.garethcliff.com/ Dear Government). He wants to know how things have gone so wrong. Gareth is blunt, he is pissed off and he is right. He calls JZ and his Crew out on a range of issues. Which, according to the angry many, makes him a racist. Because Gareth is white.

I can't look up from my steering wheel anymore but I'm afraid to look down . The depth of this bullshit gives me vertigo.