Honeymooning In South Africa: A Photo Journal

Two days after our wedding, Rafael and I flew to South Africa via Dubai to spend almost three weeks.  We split up our time in Cape Town, Knyzna, Safari, Hermanus and Franschhoek.  Here are the photos of our adventures:

Mountains rise up in the middle of Cape Town.  Rafael described this city as a mix of Cartagena (where I've never been) and San Francisco.  I describe it as freakin' awesome.  The food is amazing, it has gorgeous coasts as well as mountains and culture and the restaurants are amazing.  Favorite places to eat included The Savoy Cabbage, where we had impala, and Willoughby & Co.  We also hit a bunch of the museums on the rainy days (Jewish Museum, South African Gallery, Museum of Gold) and went to see a play.  Although the total lack of humidity meant I have bad hair in most of these pictures, the result is heavenly - even in winter, we had sunny days in the 70s.

This is the view from our cable car going up to the top of Table Mountain.

Us, on the top of Table Mountain.  Those are clouds behind us.  Clouds!

Baxter Theater, Cape Town's Lincoln Center, where Rafael and I went to see a show.

It hailed while we were in Cape Town. 

Tea at the Mandela Grand.  Although the selection and quality was amazing, I'm proud to say that the Upstart Creatures' Tea at Paradise Lost was equally delicious.

We did an apartment swap and found a great place right by the Waterfront, which we visited regularly.

A cell on Robben Island, where Mandela was held for ten years.

Crazy Lego Man on the harbor.

Just another winter day (75 degrees) in Cape Town.

Rafael loved the penguins we met on the way to the Cape of Good Hope.

We learned that monkeys, like me, have to be engaged 18 hours a day.  At Monkeyland.

These lemurs scared the hell out of me.

Rafael also loved the elephants.  They were very calm, and are always led by a female member of the pack. Coincidence?

This is Knyzna, where we went after Cape Town.  It's a town formed by a series of small islands on a lagoon.

This is us taking a boat ride across the aforementioned lagoon.

This is Tandora, whom we met on safari.  She was born in the wild, and then moved to a zoo when she was three.  Now, almost twenty years later, she has been returned to the wild and they're hoping she can make the transition successfully.  She's a very social elephant, and here, she was climbing her way to the residential area because she likes to visit.

Gondwola Private Game Reserve, where we safari-ed. 

Rafa Tree Zip Lining, outside of Hermanus!

Me doing the same thing!  It was scary!

We hiked the Hermanus coast one morning.

This is us in Franschhoek, which is like the Napa Valley of Africa.  I also had one of the best meals of my life here, at The Tasting Room at Le Le Quartier Francais.  I took pictures but they came out terrible, and I kept the menu but it doesn't do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it.