September is a good time to go whale watching in Hermanus. Southern Right Whales are on average about 14m long, 41 tonnes heavy and can live up to 50 years. A pregnant one can reach a weight of 80 tonnes. They come to South Africa during the local winter time to mate, calve and nurse their baby which they carry for about 13months and only once in every 3 years. Impressingly they do not feed at all during this time. In fact, they fat up themselves between Jan-June down in Antartica and literally “starve” for the rest of the year. Human, try to feed a baby who sucks up 600 liters of milk (!) from you per day for 8 months long WITHOUT feeding! That is truly a nature wonder.
The tour often goes on like this: you go out there on big tourist boats searching around until you see any whale in sight. Then you turn off the engine and wait for them to approach you. Yes, otherwise they’d feel “disturbed” and dive away. The three-hour boat tour in such a stormy weather was a hard one on me that day. But we did see some whales and one of them even made a little dance for us, so it was all worth it I guess.
P
Exploring Hermanus downtown while waiting for the boat.
This is my first time in the continent and J’s third time in the country so I left all the planning for him. We spent the first 4 nights in Cape Town doing the normal tourist routes: hiking up Table Mountain, visiting Bo Kaap quarter, dinner in Camp Bay, seafoods at Hout Bay, penguin watching at Boulder Beach, whale watching in Hermanus (where I got seasick very badly), and reaching the Southern most part in Cape of Good Hope. Although we had heard many stories about security issues in Cape Town, nothing bad happened to us, we were neither robbed nor threatened but we wouldn’t say we felt completely at ease hanging around town either. While we did enjoy our time in the city, we were more than glad as we hit the road and headed up North.
Greenmarket Square, one of the oldest market places in Capetown, many stands selling the usual African souvenirs for tourists
Bo Kaap quarter, formerly known as Malay quarter. It had been built as a housing area for slaves brought to SA by the Dutch.Lunch time in Bo KaapThe Nurul Islam Mosque of Bo Kaap, established in 1844African Gold Museumspeaks for itself….Table MountainThe clocktower at V&A waterfrontLunchtimeV&A waterfront at nightBoulder’s BeachAfrican penguins are a lot smaller than their Northern relatives. Despite seeming very harmless, we were warned that they can get quite “stinky” so you’re not supposed to get too close.
Boulder’s BeachCape of Good HopeThe most Southern part of the continentP on top of Cape of Good Hope
It was the Alantic ocean right after winter so the water was icy coldSomewhere between Kommitjie and Hout Bay
The transfer ticket to the car-free islandArriving in the harbour of Ile d’Or / HeliopolisThe entry to our “residence”To the honour of the founders of Heliopolis, two psychiatrists whose idea was to help depressive people by freeing them from their established environment – which includes freeing them from their clothes…..Tough job for the model lying on the stonesOur residenceHeliopolis, view from the harbour
SunsetThis sign best describes the very relaxed atmosphere in Heliopolis. We were there in September, still very good weather but already after-season and less crowdedAnother sunsetLast day, waiting for the ferry
Barcelona is one of the cities that “have it all”. The beach, the mountain, city life, art scene, cultural activities, Gaudi (!), and a very famous football team on top. We spent the first half of our trip exploring the city itself. We headed out everyday with no plan and ended up doing a tons because there’s always something going on at any hour of any day. We loved walking around just to admire the beauty of old buildings (and imagine ourselves living in them), we loved sneaking into some art galleries that seemed to be forgotten by the crowds, we loved trying out whatever dishes that looked so yummy that the people at the next table had ordered, we loved the close distance to the beach, and we loved the 28-degree-weather in June.
But the best thing about this trip was probably the three days we spent on two-wheels in the Pyrenees. The mountain roads were almost empty so J had the most fun speeding up. The scenery was beyond gorgeous and the villages we stopped by were even more charming. It was one the few trips we had absolutely nothing to complain about.
Beach avenue with Columbo showing the wayThe beach
Mercado de La BoqueriaSagrada Familia, impressive from the outside….…and amazing details from the insideno picture could do this place justiceAmazing piece of technology that carried us around Barcelona and the Pyrenees – the license plate was a total coincidenceP very cute :-)))RoadtripPyrenees landscape
Monastery MontserratThe man and his machineLunch break in the independent principality of Andorra
