Cape Town, South Africa

The next chapter of my sabbatical unfolded far from Europe, reached after a two day stopover in Doha and marked by the moment Cape Town’s mountains rose from the sea. South Africa may not be the safest country, yet Cape Town felt surprisingly welcoming when approached with common sense, especially in the well trod paths of its tourist districts. I arrived with a sense of curiosity, ready to understand a place shaped by beauty, complexity, and centuries of movement.

Some stories revealed themselves slowly, tucked into the marvellous colonial architecture that still lines the city. These buildings, elegant and weathered, whisper of the era when Cape Town became the garden of the sea, a vital stop for ships travelling between Europe and Asia. What began as a refreshment station grew into a crossroads of cultures, ambitions, and contradictions, a history both fascinating and sobering, written into stone façades and shaded courtyards.

Beyond the city, the landscape opened into something almost mythic. At Cape Point, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet in restless conversation, the cliffs felt ancient enough to hold the world together. The Cape of Good Hope, rugged and windswept, carried the weight of every sailor who once rounded it with hope, fear, or both. Standing there, the horizon felt impossibly wide.

Not all discoveries were dramatic; some were simply joyful. In Franschhoek, the Wine Tram turned vineyard hopping into a kind of gentle adventure, gliding through valleys and past sunlit slopes. Wine tasting became less of an activity and more of a rhythm, slow, social, and wonderfully indulgent. It was a reminder that travel is as much about pleasure as it is about perspective.

Cape Town may not offer the effortless ease of some destinations, but it rewards those who arrive with openness. In its mountains and markets, its layered histories and ocean winds, it invites you to look closer, to learn, to savour. For travellers who seek both beauty and depth, it offers more than enough.