Cape Town Blog – Travel and Tourism

Cape Town included in Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Cities”.

Cape Town Tourism has just published the following article:

“Popular website Forbes.com has published a list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Cities” for this year, and Cape Town has been included along with cities such as Paris, Vancouver, Sydney, Florence, Venice and London.

Forbes’ website states: “Since beauty is subjective, we surveyed city specialists from a range of fields, including urban planning, architecture and sustainable development.”

According to the website, Raymond Levitt, director of the construction program in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, who was one of the judges, said that “open spaces” were what made Cape Town special.

“Renowned English sea navigator Sir Francis Drake once referred to Cape Town as the fairest cape in the world. The city houses the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, while the top of Table Mountain offers a breathtaking view of the city from roughly 3 500 feet above sea level.”

Levitt said that Cape Town is a “manageable size” and leaves a minimal ecological footprint as a result.

The world’s most beautiful cities according to Forbes.com:

1. Paris, (France)
2. Vancouver, (Canada)
3. Sydney, (Australia)
4. Florence, (Italy)
5. Venice, (Italy)
6. Cape Town, (South Africa)
7. San Francisco, (USA)
8. Chicago, (USA)
9. New York City, (USA)
10. London, (England)
11. Cambridge, (England)
12. Tokyo, (Japan)

Sniff and Sip….

The historic “sniff and sip” brandy journey at South Africa’s premier brandy destination is definitely a highlight to be experienced. The Oude Molen brandy distillery is located in the Overberg town of Elgin along the N2 highway and still produces award-winning brandies according to the traditional methods as laid down by the father of South African brandy, René Santhagens in 1910.

The Oude Molen brandy distillery is situated on a 12.6 hectare property with breathtaking vistas and tranquil mountain surroundings. The Oude Molen Visitors Centre is well-known for its warm ambience and offers visitors an insightful, audio-visual brandy tour and a tasting of the exceptional pot-stilled, oak matured brandy.

The architecture of the distillery hall is appealingly voluminous and revolves around the original copper pot stills installed by Oude Molen master distiller, Dave Acker.

These impressive copper pot stills are believed to be the largest brandy pot stills in South Africa. Dave Acker refers to them as the big guns in the brandy distilling business and affectionately named them Big Bertha and Long Tom, nicknames of artillery pieces used in the Franco Prussian War and the Boer War respectively. He strongly believes that the large curved areas of the pots allow for greater condensation of the alcohol vapours and therefore creates a purer distillate, which is a characteristic notably discernable in the smoothness of Oude Molen brandies.

Oude Molen VOV 14-year old was judged Best Brandy in the World three times at the prestigious International Wine & Spirit Competition held in London in both 1999, 2001 and 2008. Oude Molen VOV is matured for 14 years to create its distinctive rich complexity. The brandy has a mellow smoothness with a rich amber colour and hints of wood and nuttiness on the nose. The slightly sweet notes of vanilla and a soft spiciness on the palate give a long lingering and satisfying finish.

The centre is open daily from Monday to Friday between 08h30 – 17h00.

Distillery tours are conducted daily by appointment and light lunches and refreshments can be organised after the tour by prior arrangement. Cellar tours on Saturdays and Sundays are also available by appointment for groups consisting of more than 10 people.

For further information and bookings, contact Oude Molen on 021 859 2517 or visit www.oudemolen.co.za

P.H.Fat and Playdoe LIVE!!!

The discotheque series, presented at Assembly, has done nothing to disappoint. Tonight they bring us two of South Africa’s most deliciously high-rising, local acts - Playdoe and P.H.Fat.

Both dreamteams have exploded onto the South African music scene by pioneering their amalgam genres. Playdoe’s name says it – a malleable genre, a fluid sound and a playful live act that is almost evangelical about, “it’s that beat”. Playdoe consists of Sibot – the genius that brought you Max Normal, Constructus, Closet Snare, Knights of the Round and Real Estate Agents – while Spoek supplies the god-step and the man purse. They’ve toured Europe and played with the calibre of Anti Pop Consortium, DJ Krush, DJ Food, Afrikan Boy, Dan La Sac vs Scroobius Pip, M.Sayyid (solo), Buzzcocks, Cadence Weapon, Dizzee Rascal… in nutshell, they can hold their nuggets amongst the good-beat-gods.

P.H.Fat , and their motto, “dance so hard you blood turns to mayonnaise”, bring social satire and a darkness to their mish-mash of experimental rap/electro. Masters of localized lyrical masterstrokes, “Eskom’s coming! Turn out the lights”, is one of their most celebrated song lines. In addition their superstar-less, diva-free nature and sardonic self-deprecating humour, make them a crazy enjoyable live act.

To see is to believe. These guys are going places, and they reaffirm the faith in South Africa, that seasons of Idols have repeatedly robbed us of.

Other acts include the consortium of Richard III, Liver, Lapse and Mastercash.

DOORS OPEN AT 9PM and entrane is R30 Before 9:30 and R50 After.

Do yourself a favour. Hope to see you there.

Our Beautiful Soccer Stadium.

fisheye girl

fisheye girl

fisheye girl

Finally, the long awaited opening of our beautiful stadium here in the Mother City. A day filled with the drones of thousands of Vuvuzelas. The crowd was going crazy cheering for the two teams, Ajax vs. Santos. Sadly the friendly game ended in a 0-0 draw. But nontheless it was still an amazing experience to watch them play. It’s crazy to think that 60 000 people will be sitting in that stadium for the World Cup. I can’t Wait to go to another game!

Bizerca Bistro

For those of you that haven’t yet – GO. I was out on a first dinner date, expecting the discomfort of a swanky place and what I got instead was Bizerca – in the words of Deslandes himself, “It’s not fancy French dining, which can be stuffy and intimidating, but true bistro style, which is relaxed without compromising on quality”.

Award-winning Australian chef Laurent Deslandes.

Although it should go without saying, it seldom is the case that a restaurant’s real show-stopper is what it serves – but such can be said of Bizerca. really was the food. Bizerca, encapsulates what a fine dining experience should be – An EXPERIENCE. The set menu changes bi-monthly, while a chalkboard denotes the delicacies of the day. What I loved most was that the menu was unpredictable. From experimental beetroot tarts, to the more exotic (for the Westerner) gourmet sweetbreads and pigs trotters, Bizerca compromised neither quality nor variety. The ingredients are the freshest, food made to request, and the courses were beautifully paced. It was such a nice change to the usual KFC conveyor-style, in-an- out with the diners.

The service (while not altogether full of personality) was excellent. Not intrusive, but with an outstanding knowledge of the wine and menu (and this did not vary from waiter to waiter). Unlike Societi Bistro (where I recently found the formality stifling, the service almost snobbish and did not take well to the overwhelming quiet permeated by only clanking cutlery ), the service was just informal enough to facilitate an enjoyable meal. At no point did we have to look around to find our attentive waiter, the place ran like a well-oiled machine. And in honesty, halfway into my main course, it occurred to me that it really didn’t have to – they could have the Adam’s family attending that place and you’d still go because the food is just that good.

Dim lights, ample spacing (this was one of the first meals I’ve had in a while, where the conversations of those seated around us at no point intertwined with our own) and altogether low-lit-loveliness.

I highly recommend a reservation at Bizerca.

South African Wine Course

Are you tired of having dinner with your snootier glass-twirling, wine-snorting friends – and wondering how it is that the opinion of  a person gargling wine in public, can be considered so solemnly? If like me, you are well fed-up with going out to dine with someone that assumes you can’t choose the wine (because, perhaps you can’t), then this course if for you.

Who says Cape Town is special?

Whilst browsing around Cape Town Tourism’s website recently, I stumbled upon an interesting list of what they have called the ” Accolades and Awards” received by our “Mother City”.

Herewith their list:

# Best holiday destination – Heat magazine reader survey January 2010

# Second favourite overseas city – Guardian, UK

# World’s Number Two City – Travel+Leisure magazine July 2009

# World’s Best Incentive Destination – Conference & Incentive Travel magazine October 2009

# World’s Best Entertainment/Lifestyle Destination – Luxury Travel Awards April 2009

# Best Tourism Investor City of the Year – AI Tourism Investor Awards 2009

# 3rd Best City In The World – US Travel And Leisure July 2008

# Best City In Africa & Middle East – US Travel And Leisure July 2008

# 4th Top City In The World – Condenast Readers’ Choice October 2008

# Best City In Africa & Middle East – Condenast Readers’ Choice October 2008

# 3rd Best City In The Top 10 World Food Cities – Lonely Planet Blue List 2008

# Best Destination, Africa – World Travel Awards May 2008

# Best City To Live In, Africa & Middle East – Mercer Quality Of Living Survey 2008

# One Of The “Places Of A Lifetime” – National Geographic Traveler, July 2008

# One Of The World’s Most Sustainable Cities – Ethisphere Institute, Sept 2008

# Boulder’s Beach: World’s Best Family Beach – UK Telegraph March 2007

# Cleanest City In SA – DEAT Annual Cleanest Metro Awards March 2007

# #1 Uk Long Haul Destination – UK Trends And Spends Survey 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007

# One Of The World’s 5 Bluest Sky Destinations – Expedia.co.uk July 2006

# Favourite Foreign City – UK Telegraph 2004, 2005

# Ideal Travel Destination – Markinor-Sunday Times Top Brands Survey 2005

# Africa’s Leading Destination – World Travel Awards 2008

# 27th Best City for Men to Live in – Askmen.com 2009

And I am sure that this list is but a fraction of what is out there.