Bianca Coleman
THE BROCHURE says the topless hop-on, hop-off Cape Town City Sightseeing bus is the best way to see Cape Town, and I have to agree wholeheartedly.
I don’t care if you are a visitor to our fair city, or a local, a trip on one of these distinctive red buses is a must.
I am a lifelong Capetonian and I still enjoy every minute of the ride, and find the commentary informative and interesting. It is a little outdated though: Table Mountain was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature two months ago and the narrator is still telling passengers it is a contender.
Tut-tut, people. I’m also pretty sure they told us a year ago that the grain silos in the harbour were going to be made into a hotel, but I might have dreamed it. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not.
Anyway. It has been a glorious week, weatherwise, and perfect for bus-riding.
I managed to get through the entire day without driving my car, which was a personal triumph.
I took the MyCiTi from town to the V&A Waterfront where I collected my ticket for the Red Route (city) – which I had bought for the discounted online price of R110 – from the City Sightseeing kiosk outside the aquarium.
Buses depart every 15 minutes from 9am till 4.30pm, and the entire round trip takes about two hours if you don’t get off.
I initially had every good intention of visiting some places along the way this time – the District Six museum, the Jewish museum where they have an exhibition of Zapiro’s brilliant cartoons, or even the Gold Museum – but the blazing sun put paid to that idea.
I was lucky enough to be on a bus which was partially covered on the upper level and there was no way I was going to lose my precious seat in the shade.
I did not want to get back on another bus and have to sit where it would – as one local passenger so eloquently put it – “ brand my gat af”. Foreigners, you can look that up on Google Translate, but it does sound better in Afrikaans.
I still prefer the old days when the buses had live guides; it was more intimate and chatty. But the commentary is good, and available in 16 languages. As you leave the Waterfront and turn up Heerengracht and Adderley, it points out the various statues which I guess we all kind of know are there but never notice: Bartholomew Dias, Jan and Maria, the memorial to fallen soldiers.
Other places of interest on the route include the Mount Nelson Hotel and its high teas, the Iziko South African Museum, Planetarium, SA National Gallery, the Castle Of Good Hope, Greenmarket Square and the Houses of Parliament, as well as the abovementioned museums. You are given fair warning in case you want to disembark to explore further.
Personally, I would have pointed out the Engen garage in Upper Orange Street, which is an all-night meeting place and lifesaver when you run out of just about anything. Except electricity. Don’t count on that. Also notable: the Fugard Theatre; live music venue The Assembly in Harrington Street; Dias Tavern for the Portuguese cuisine mentioned earlier on the tour when we passed Dias’s statue; the Book Lounge and Kimberley Hotel.
The bus meanders through the city and District Six, then up Kloof Nek to the lower cable car station on Table Mountain, before bringing you back to the Waterfront via the spectacular coastline of Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Sea Point and Mouille Point.
For visitors it’s scenic Cape Town in a nutshell, complete with history, and for locals it’s the opportunity to enjoy your city from an elevated, relaxed perspective from which you will see things you never notice in a car. Do yourself a favour.
Info: 021 511 6000, www.citysightseeing.co.za