Cape Town for The Curious Wanderers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
A mountain, two oceans and a table laid for everyone.
No theme, just the city at its best. The sights that earn their reputation, a workshop or a market, one strange place nobody told you about, and dinner where the food is the point.
Friday: Dinner and a market
- Pan African Market
Three floors of masks, beads and fabric from across the continent, with a rooftop cafe; the owners will bargain, politely.
- Gold Restaurant
Fourteen African dishes and a drumming show; sit at the long table with strangers and share.
Saturday: Mountain and a craft
- Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
The rotating car rises 1,000 metres in five minutes; at the top, walk the loop trail and watch the cloud pour over.
- Cooking with Love Cape Malay class
A home cooking class with Fatima Sydow in Bo-Kaap: samoosas, curry and rotis, and you eat what you cook around her table.
- Marco's African Place
A big room of African food and live music, with marimba in the background; the game stew is the one to order.
Sunday: Strange and old
- Cape Town Diamond Museum
A short museum on the cutting and polishing of diamonds, with a working workshop; useful if you want a stone.
- Kalk Bay
A fishing village of antiques shops, secondhand books and a harbour full of seals; walk it slowly and stop at the bookshop.
- Harbour House Kalk Bay
Fish with the waves under the windows, and the freshest hake; request a table by the glass wall.
Monday: Salon and a garden
- Company's Garden
Squirrels, oaks and the old rose garden; the National Gallery and the museum are a short walk across the lawn.
- Hemelhuijs
A cafe-restaurant with a changing menu and a shop of oddities; the cake counter is hard to pass.