We made it to the top of Table Mountain today!! We actually took the cable car instead of hiking since the hike was incredibly steep. I think that was a a good decision because there was still lots of hiking up at the top and I think that would've been difficult to do if we had just hiked all the way up. Plus the cable cars were cool; they were really big and had huge 360 degree windows. The floor also spun around so where you stood didn't matter as it spun you all the way around anyway so you could see all of the views.
The top of the mountain was incredible. Any way you looked had breath-taking views. It's no wonder that it was named one of the "7 Wonders of Nature" as of 2011. It's highest point is at Maclear's Beacon and reaches 1,086 meters (3,563 feet) above sea level. And we climbed up to the very top of that! Here's a picture:
We spent a few hours hiking around up there and also ate a packed lunch with the most gorgeous view. They have some very even trails right around the cable station where you can get to both sides of the plateau and get most of the views. But to get to Maclear's Beacon it's about a 45 minute hike and it's pretty uneven terrain A few times we were straight-up climbing. It's definitely well-worth the views though. I took a thousand pictures. Here's a couple, as always you can see more in my album linked on the right (they are in part 2).
They have a ton of hiking paths up there and you could spend all day hiking if you wanted to. We also saw several little mammals roaming about which turned out to be called dassies. They kind of look like a cross between a rodent and a rabbit, but according to Wikipedia they are more closely related to elephants and manatees, which seems bizarre to me.
Anyway, we really enjoyed our Table Mountain day and the weather was perfect for it. It was pretty crowded around the cable car areas but once you hiked out a bit the crowd quickly thinned out. It was just such a perfect day for it with the great weather and being a holiday.
After we rode the cable car back down we walked back to our airbnb. Along the way we stopped for food and found a diner called "Stacked". It was so good! We got the best burgers of our trip so far, along with some fries and milkshakes. Yum! We haven't yet tried any adventurous African cuisine but there's still lots of time for that.
After we made it back to our airbnb we decided to spend the last hour of daylight checking out the surrounding area a bit. We walked through "The Company's Garden" which is literally right across the street. There were some really big trees and pretty plants. We also saw an albino squirrel! It was kind of creepy looking with bright red eyes.
We also walked along the perimeter and saw the big old buildings which were really pretty, and also the parliament buildings. We made our way down to the Cape Hope Castle and grabbed a picture but we weren't able to go inside.
Oh, I finally finished my Singapore page! Check it out and let me know what you think!
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