A full day in Capetown

I slept like a dog and got up on Capetown time.  Pretty amazing actually.  Jessica took me to Old Biscuit Mill marketplace which is open all week but on Saturday they have a food court from local places as well as one offs.  As Jessica said, the crowd is a little bit like going to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Right up my alley.  A perfect kick off to the week.  This is the area where the food is.

Inside there are communal tables to eat.  I love how they put candles down the table in wine bottles.  A nice touch.

We began our first bite with a super sized potato pancake (latke) topped with smoked salmon and an egg. It also comes with hollandaise sauce but we went without that.  Quite good.  Afterward we were seriously thirsty and picked up a killer strawberry smoothie.  

There are tastes everywhere.  This is like tuna jerky.  Tuna biltong.  I tasted it.  Really salty.  Not my thing but big with the locals.

We tried these Norwegian smoked salmon wraps in rice paper.  One bite and we both tossed it out.  Alas.  

Taking a break we walked around the area that is open during the week.  Lots of small clothing booths for clothes, jewelry and shoes.  This place is a little deli.  

I loved these large round wooden cheese platters made from the top of wine barrels.  I really thought about bringing one back but they are seriously heavy.  I might still go back and buy one.

Then we walked into a store called Green.  Lots of hand made wooden tables and table bases.  Very cool stuff but what we both really loved were the cow rugs.  Literally hides of cows.  I have been looking at them in the states.  The ones here are so inexpensive compared to at home.  I picked up this "cow" rug for $400.  We were seriously psyched.

Strolling back to the food market we tasted some salamis in a variety of flavors.  All really delicious and cured perfectly.

It was time for lunch.  The breads here are amazing.  Maybe it is the water.  We split a sandwich with roasted chicken, avacado, tomato pesto, basil pesto, lettuce greens, sliced tomatoes, pecorino cheese and a variety of dressings as each different layer was put on.  This was all stuffed into a scooped out roll baked with pumpkin seeds on the top.  A perfect sandwich.

Check out these gorgeous mushrooms.

More bread.

If it wasn't for the fact that I am not a huge fan of white chocolate I might have gone for these blueberry whoopie pies.

Local coffee from Rosetta brewery.  In the bottom corner is Brewers & Union which is a local beer.

Outside there were wrapped bales of hay to sit on and low wooden tables in the middle.  They even put flowers or plants in the middle of the table to make it look nice.  Basically an ongoing all day party was happening here.

We sat outside and tried a piece of carrot cake.  One bite, didn't love it.  Too dry but looked good.

It was time for some gallery exploring.  The first gallery we went to is called the Museum Gallery.  They only carry photography.  It is located at the top of a hill where there is a new hotel.  The area is certainly undergoing gentrification because on the way up the hill are random outlets.  An interesting gritty neighborhood around the corner from the Old Biscuit Mill Market. 

Next stop was Michael Stevenson.  They carry some of the most well known South African artists, many who are carried and shown around the world.  They had a few exhibits up.  We were fortunate to speak to a woman there who took us through the back drawers of other artists that she believed to be up and coming.  A pretty awesome experience.  This artist is Guy Tillim.  This shot is taken in Polynesia.  The concept of this show is to show the viewer how these beautiful places don't really look like the postcard you get.  Everything was hyper-intensified from the colors to the trash.  Amazing work.

This piece is done by Sabelo Mlangeni.  They look old but they are recent.  It has to do with how they are processed.  It is called Ghost Town series.  All the photos are taken in towns around South Africa where mainly children and grandchildren reside as the parents have moved into Capetown or Johannesburg where there is work.  Classic urbanization as the country is growing post-apartheid.  When it transforms towards the suburbs could be years.  

Daniel Naube is the artist here.  A series of animals.  After buying the cow rug I kind of felt drawn to this one photo.

Our next stop was a drive through the city until we ended up in Hout Bay which is south of the city down the Atlantic seaboard.  An old fishing villa.  There are tons of fishing boats there.  Absolutely majestic.  The picture does not do the place justice.  We walked to the far end of the pier and back.  Just breathtaking.

Back to the hotel to relax and have a massage.  Living it up.