One of the benefits of my previous position at Techworld was meeting linguists located around the world, as I mentioned when I wrote about our time in Los Quirquinchos, Argentina with Pamela and her family. As luck would have it, another linguist, Elze, lives in Cape Town and offered to help us out and show us around during our time in the city. As with our time with Pam, the days spent with Elze became one of our favorite memories of visiting South Africa. Although we only spent a total of three days with Elze, spread over our two weeks in Cape Town, we departed as lifelong friends.

The views along our drive were spectacular – around every bend in the road was another beautiful scene like this!

With one day spent touring Cape Town itself and the other two days relaxing in her home of Table View, we got to explore parts of the city we never would have done otherwise. Our very first day in Cape Town was spent driving around, pointing out buildings and landmarks and getting an overview of the area. A drive up Lion’s Head provided us views over the entire city and surrounding area, allowing us to become familiar with the landscape and layout. Driving past Camp’s Bay, Hout Bay, and Table Mountain, we stopped periodically to admire the shoreline and scenery. Elze introduced us to Amarula, a cream liquor made from the fruit of the marula tree which is native to southern Africa. Once it came time for lunch, we walked around Victoria and Alfred Waterfront for a while, finally settling on her choice of seafood restaurant called Quay 4. We sat outside, at a table overlooking the water, sharing a bottle of local white wine and enjoying our hake fish and chips.

After our first taste, we were hooked on the cream liquor Amarula!

A selfie during a pit stop on our drive along the coast!

Our subsequent visits led us to Elze’s neighborhood of Table View. Along with her two cuddly dogs for company, we visited a handful of beaches near her home, all with unobstructed views of Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town. We spent time walking along the sandy and rocky beaches, driving past landmarks, relaxing at her house, and appreciating the fresh seafood available at all the restaurants. There were two different places we tried for lunches, both serving delicious fish, shrimp, salmon, and other items found fresh from the sea. The Blue Peter and Catch 22 both provided views over the water and we lunched with languor on each of our visits. The atmosphere was relaxed and the days spent together made us feel as though we were locals hanging out with a friend, rather than tourists trying to get to know a new city.

We enjoyed lingering over lunches whenever we got together!

Aside from just spending time together as friends, Elze proved invaluable to our time in Africa. When we were late arriving to the city, due to delays with our flights, she called our hostel to hold our reservation and made arrangements for transportation from the airport when we arrived. We kept a bag of electronics and extra clothes at her house while we went on our Intrepid tour of southern Africa, so that we didn’t have to carry the extra belongings with us. Elze gave us maps of the city and tourist guides, showing us her recommendations on where to go and just as importantly, where not to go. Regular text messages to check in with us on our tour made us feel comforted, knowing someone was waiting for us at the end of our explorations in Africa.

Elze’s two friendly dogs accompanied us on one of our beach walks.

We were so thankful to have met (in person!) and spent time with Elze. As if the scenery, food, and sights of Cape Town weren’t enough of a draw for us to return one day, we have the best reason of all – a friend in the city who will always be eager and willing to show these two tourists a slice of her home. Thank you Elze, for everything that you did for us during our time in Africa! We treasure the time that we spent together and are grateful to have had the time with you!

Cheers to a great friend!