Tag Archives: Clifton

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 June

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The EFF is calling for 40 Cape Town suburbs and Western Cape towns to be renamed, to remove references to our ‘colonial‘ past and to go back to the region’s African and Khoi San origins. Camps Bay, Worcester, Hermanus, Plettenberg Bay, Stellenbosch, and George are included on the suggested renaming list.

*   The City of Cape Town has approved the sale of a piece of land called ‘Clifton Precinct‘, currently housing garages used by bungalow owners, a restaurant, and sport grounds, despite resistance from Clifton residents. The City is calling for a bidder to build a parking garage, a retail outlet, and ‘boutique line shops’! Opposition parties in the City Council are also up in arms about the proposed sale.

*   The arrogance of the Department of Home Affairs knows no bounds in terms of its Immigration Regulations, it Continue reading →

Cape Town and Winelands Restaurant Winter Specials (and winter closures) 2015

Bungalow fireplaceIf it depends on the Cape weather, it is hardly winter yet. However, the first restaurants are sending out their Winter Specials information, summarised below.  The list is updated continuously. We welcome information about new specials:

Cape Town

*   Umi in Camps Bay: 2 course set menu R155, 3 courses R195.  Beef shortrib R105, beef sirloin R95, fish & fries R85, Tataki Beef R55, Beef sliders R55, Baby squid R45. Half price sushi. Cocktails R40  Tel (021) 437-1802 (added 1/5/15)

*   Pepenero in Mouille Point : 2 courses R150, 3 courses R190. Sirloin R90, Rump R90, Lamb cutlets R120, Seafood platter R160, Sushi platter R130, Veal schnitzel R110, Oxtail R110, prawn platter R130, chicken liver pasta R80, and chicken curry R90 .  Half price sushi (selected items) all day. Cocktails R35. Daily. Tel (021) 439-9027 (added 1/5/15)

*    5 Rooms, Alphen Boutique Hotel: 2 courses R160; 3 courses R 200; Sirloin R95, slow braised lamb shank Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 2 February

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  Ghanaian rapper D Black has been holidaying in Cape Town, his Instagram and Twitter (with 146000 followers!) shows. He visited Robben Island, Table Mountain,CampsBay, and the V&A V & A Waterfront. He also recorded with local musician Donald in Denial.

*    Cape Town has been named by National Geographic as the second best Beach City in the world, the Clifton beaches mentioned specifically for their protection against the wind and expensive accommodation. The False Bay beaches, as well as Milnerton and Blouberg, are referred to.  Number one is Barcelona, with its Barcenoleta Beach. The rest of the Beach City ranking is Honolulu (Waikiki Beach), Nice’s three beaches, Miami Beach, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, Santa Monica, Sydney’s Bondi, Tel Aviv, and Vancouver’s ten beaches.

*   SA Tourism, host of INDABA 2015, is describing the trade show as one which will exceed the expectations of both Continue reading →

Hermanus firefighters and community Sweet Service and City of Cape Town Sour Service Awards!

Hermanus fireThe Sweet Service Award goes to the firefighters and community of Hermanus, for its work last weekend in fighting a massive fire in Onrus, which led to the evacuation of residents of retirement villages Kidbrooke and Onrus Manor, as well as residents of Chanteclair and Bergsig. The Windsor Hotel and guest houses also accommodated residents for the night.  Social Media played an important role in preventing residents threatened by the fire from panicking, and to call on Hermanus locals to assist with bedding for those that had to sleep in community halls.  Ultimately too it was Mother Nature, which brought pouring rain late that night, putting an end to the fires. Continue reading →

New Year’s Eve restaurant staff Sweet and City of Cape Town Sour Service Awards! (reposted)

New Year glassesThe Sweet Service Award goes to all the restaurant chefs, kitchen staff, bar staff, and waitrons in Cape Town and the Winelands, who gave up their own New Year’s Eve celebrations to ensure that their patrons had a sparkling start to the New Year.

 

 

Continue reading →

City of Cape Town setting quota for number of Atlantic Seaboard beachgoers on busy beach days!

Camps Bay beachThe heavily crowded beach days of 26 December and 1 January are to be controlled by the City of Cape Town, to make the traffic flow more bearable.  Not all Capetonians are in favour of this proposed quota system.

The City media statement announced:   The ‘City’s Traffic Service will actively manage the influx of vehicles along the Atlantic Seaboard in an effort to prevent a repetition of the gridlock conditions that have become a regular occurrence in Sea Point, Bantry Bay, Clifton and Camps Bay on 26 December and 1 January in previous years‘.  Anyone living on that side of Cape Town will agree that the traffic mayhem is unbearable, it taking one hour from Bakoven to the Camps Bay beachfront on 26 December last year, for example.

Unsurprisingly the City is promoting its MyCiTi Bus service, recommending that beachgoers, those heading for Camps Bay in Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 20/21 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Mayor Patricia de Lille has launched a Beach Safety campaign, handing out goody bags containing sunscreen, a frisbee, and beach safety pamphlets at Clifton 4th Beach, Camps Bay, Silwerstroom, Gordon’s Bay, Muizenberg, and Monwabisi.  The campaign includes a ‘I love my Beach’ promotion, aimed at keeping Cape Town’s 83 beaches clean, safe and free of alcohol.  The City has budgeted an additional R 22 million to keep the beaches, scenic routes, and business areas clean until February.

*   The Minister of Tourism is inviting tourism players to apply for a three-year position as Non-Executive directors on the board of SA Tourism.   Entries close on ‘23 January 2014′ (sic).

*   The Wall Street Journal has slated South African Pinotage as a wine variety to avoid buying as a gift over the festive Continue reading →

Condé Nast Traveler: Cape Town 4th best holiday destination in the world, seven top hotels in Africa!

Cape Town Stadium and Table MountainCondé Nast Traveler has announced its 27th Readers’ Choice Awards, reflecting the favourite travel destinations of its 76600 readers.

Cape Town was ranked 4th favourite travel destination in the world, following Florence in top spot, Charleston in South Carolina in second place, and Budapest in third position.  Cape Town beat San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, Prague, Rome, Siem Reap in Cambodia, Barcelona, and Sante Fe in New Mexico.

The accolade for Cape Town is as follows: ‘Cape Town is the best city in the world for blending urban culture with the great outdoors: They’re literally a five-minute drive from each other. There’s an exploding food Continue reading →

Kfm/Sentech Sweet Service and Sentech Sour Service Awards!

Kfm logoThe Sweet Service Award goes to Kfm/Sentech, for (finally) doing something about the poor reception on the Atlantic Seaboard of Kfm (and with it GoodHopeFM and 5FM), the problems having commenced in May after a severe winter storm.  Reception of these radio stations has been almost non-existent in one’s home, but never a problem in the car, until May.  I Tweeted Kfm, and some of its presenters, and then called Primedia Broadcasting, and spoke to some of their technical staff, but was told that this is really in the hands of Sentech.  I received a call from a very nice gentleman from Sentech, whose name I unfortunately did not record, who had been contacted by Kfm, and he explained that Kfm is broadcast via the Tygerberg tower, while the other two stations come via the Hout Bay one. A Hout Bay friend had however experienced similar radio reception problems in her area.  All of a sudden, after two months, there Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 20 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  The influential Huffington Post has published a fantastic article about Cape Town, entitled ‘15 Reasons Cape Town should be No. 1 on your travel agenda’, and has already achieved 749 Facebook likes, 211 Facebook shares,  and 473 Tweets in the past 24 hours. The list of reasons includes its location; ‘some of the most picturesque beach communities you’ll ever see’, featuring a photograph of Clifton;  beachfront bars, showing a photograph of the view onto Camps Bay beach from the now closed-down St Yves; 3000 penguins at Boulders Beach; the Sea Point swimming pool;  the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden; the V&A Waterfront ‘tourist trap‘ but meaning it in a positive way;   ‘the weather is almost too perfect’, with a photograph of the Twelve Apostles with a heavy South-Easter cloud!; Long Street not being as over-crowded or over-priced as Bourbon Street;  the Royale Eatery, well-known for its burgers and thick milkshakes;  colourful Bo-Kaap; the Neighbourgoods Market; ‘breathtaking universities‘;  and braai’s, at Mzoli’s in Gugulethu in particular.  The Stellenbosch Winelands and shark cage diving in Gansbaai are also recommended.

*   TripAdvisor has found that user searches for South Africa are increasingly terms such as ‘museums‘,  ‘luxury’, and ‘wifi’, while ‘safety’, wildlife, and ‘animals’ are less often searched than before.

*   The 2014 World Cup, due to kick-off in Brazil on 12 June, could be headed for chaos if the threatened strike by staff of the LATAM airline group servicing most of South America is not dealt with before then.  It is estimated that 300 international and 750 regional flights could be affected if the strike takes place.

*   Century City is to complete a new Conference Centre by the end of next year.  The CCCC will have 20 venues which Continue reading →