Tourism, 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 can host 1900 delegates, accompanied by a 125-room hotel. Parking with 1300 bays will be available. High-speed wifi will be offered via an open-access fibre-optic network.
* The Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2011 has won a trophy at the International Wine Challenge, held in London recently. (received via media release from De Kock Communications)
* The successful First Thursdays has sprouted a sibling, Third Thursdays being focused on Cape Town’s East City, in the Roeland Street/Harrington Street/Buitenkant Street area. The movement follows an international trend to keep doors of art and design outlets open after 17h00 one day a month, to allow the city’s visitors and residents to take time to meander from one gallery, art shop or restaurant to another until 21h00. On Thursday 22 May Third Thursdays will include {Field Office} with an exhibition of 1000 Drawings Doodle Sessions; Studio 41; the movie ‘Beautiful Losers’ at Twenty Five; BLANK; The Book Lounge; Superior Goods Store; food trucks on Barrack Lane; and Lefty’s restaurant.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage