Gardens and the Garden Route

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So I tried to post a blog yesterday but something went wrong. Here is the brief synopsis (mostly pictures) of our last few days.

King proteus. National flower of South Africa. Saw this and many others at the kirstenbosch gardens.

 

Hout's bay

Good to know!

 

 

 

Chambers peak drive

Very nice views

 

Ostriches, baboons and antelope were seen at the cape of good hope

 

This guy stole someone's chocolate cake and seems to be enjoying it.

 

Indian ocean left, Atlantic to the right

Seems like a nice spot for a beer….

On second thought it may be a bit windy.

Penguin colony at boulder beach…

 

Baby penguins

 

Decided to drive East along the garden route. Saw lots of beautiful country.

Very different scenery…beautiful coastline and farmland within 30 minutes drive.

 

If you are ever in Knysna..stay here! Unbelievable!!

 

The view from our deck!

We have had a full last couple of days but hopefully we can get something posted before we leave for safari!

 

Chicago-Istanbul-Cape Town

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On Sunday July 28, we finally finished cleaning and packing our condo, stored our cars and hopped a bus to Chicago. As usually we cut everything a little closer than necessary but it all worked out fine.

We thought we did OK packing and Arpita surprised both of us when she was able to cram most of her stuff into one wheelie and one backpack.

First stop Istanbul!!

These maps are great!

The stop in Istanbul was basically a long layover (8 hrs) but we decided to head into the city and wander around a little. By the time we got our visas and cleared passport control we had a little over 3 hours to explore. We are glad we did!

Blue mosque…

We decided to get some dinner at a little cafe just a block or so from the hippodrome. Turns out they had a nice little terrace with excellent views. And our timing couldn’t have been much better.

The view from dinner…

It was pretty neat to see the sunset and the lights come up on the mosque. Unfortunately we forgot (or didn’t actually know) that dinners in turkey seem to move at the same speed as dinners in Greece….very, very slow. By the time we were done we walked to the grand bazaar and caught a cab back to the airport. We were very psyched to spend 2 nights in a row on a Turkish air flight. They did give us 2 meals per flight (even if we took off at 1 am local time)!

We did finally arrive in Cape Town at 1 pm local time on Tuesday after a 13 hour trip from Istanbul. We had a nice surprise waiting at for us at our first hotel! Thanks Mom and dad!!

I think the rose petals may be from the hotel but mom and dad did hook us up with a nice bottle of champagne and a delicious little snack!!

To recap: 23 hours flight time, 10,100 miles flown, 3 continents, 1 quick layover in Turkey with a nice dinner and better view…