This Week & Beyond
April 14-20: Easter in the Mother City is delicious in many ways
Holiday-makers flock to Cape Town around Christmas time, which really is too damn hot and way too crowded for the best experience. Easter is a much cooler and generally way more pleasant time. We are starting to feel the changing of the seasons in the Mother City, and it is really lovely. Get out your jerseys and light a fire in the hearth one day, strip down and run into the sea the next.
You know what they say about Cape Town:
You don’t like the weather?
Hang around for 20 minutes!
Right now, the weather is even more all-over-the-place than normal between the relentless heat of the summer and the constant sideways rain of the winter. It is the best time for walking, the trails and the contour paths are alive with people as everyone makes the most of the last rays and golden evenings.
Unfortunately, there are intermittent reports of robberies and other attacks on hikers in the mountains. Fortunately, Cape Town’s response has been to get out more in groups. There are some basic safety rules if you want to explore the mountains and parks on foot, number one is do not do it alone.
The best thing is to join one of the many groups who organise walks and hikes. This will keep you safe and almost certainly introduce you to a whole lot of local secrets. One such group is Vredehoek Walkers, of which we were founding members. Here is a little about the group Reclaiming the mountain. The group organises walks in the mornings and evenings throughout the week, mostly on the Deer Park/Devils Peak side with occasional forays on to Lion’s Head.
Once you have done a hike what better way to reward yourself (and replace all the calories you burnt) than with a post-walk gelato at Moro, Call Off The Search’s favourite gelato joint. Exceptionally delicious gelato sold in super-cool stores. We like Long Street for a cone on a lazy hot afternoon, or Greenpoint for a tub to share and people-watching on Friday or Saturday evening. #DateNight.
The Moro story: “We make gelato like it used to be made, by hand, from scratch, and with seasonal ingredients. To help preserve our gelato in a natural way we also use the traditional “pozzetti”, the sunken counters where gelato is protected from air, light and temperature fluctuation. You can’t see it but it’s all for a much better quality. At Moro we make slow food, instead of fast food.”
Our favourite flavours are Pistacchio and Marchese (vanilla from Tahiti combined with Macadamia nuts and caramalised almonds). It’s Easter, after all!
So why do people feast at Easter?
Christians feast at Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a central tenet of Christianity. It also marks the end of Lent, a period of fasting, penitence and reflection. The feast symbolises victory over death and sin, and is a time of joy, hope, and new life (represented by eggs, in case you are wondering).
It is also connected to the Jewish Passover, which commemorates the Israelites' liberation from slavery in Egypt. Jesus's Last Supper with his disciples was a Passover meal, which he transformed into a new covenant.
If wandering through town and time travelling is more your thing, Cape Town Heritage Tours has two interesting tours on the Easter weekend:
Saturday April 19, from 2-4pm: Cape Town Dungeon: A Heritage Walking Tour through the Castle of Good Hope. The Castle at the heart of Cape Town and its history is a cruel remnant of the displacement and destruction of indigenous life that lasted for more than 300 years after its first stone was laid. In minutes you can walk from art galleries to torture chambers, rococo fountains to venomous arsenals, glinting silver dining halls to bronze statues of imprisoned chiefs. Like Robben Island, The Castle, which most Capetonians prefer to ignore, is an international monument to a dead empire, and a tourist site whose resonances are still far from fully heard. More info and tickets
Sunday April 20, from 2-4pm: Factory Records: A Woodstock Heritage Walking Tour. Expect glamour, grunge and glory (not to mention gees) on this wander through the story and soul of ‘South Africa’s ‘first suburb’. The battle for Woodstock’s future reflects the struggle for the city’s own destiny. For now, it’s a mixed and manic cosmos of energies from all over the continent and beyond, building on more than 200 years of strange encounters. This tour promises to help you to “get to grips with the birthplace of Cape Town’s industrial revolution, all the while hearing how our genius for paradox and diversity echo across the eras and back to today”. More info and tickets
Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater gives a searing, close-up view of a fiery chapter in South Africa’s history. The embers are still burning. On at Baxter Theatre until April 19, this one-woman show packs a riveting fireball of a lesson in history, myth and legend, leaving audiences exhilarated and reeling. Unmissable! Tickets
Also requiring speedy decision-making, earthside returns to Theatre Arts for a limited run (April 14-17) due to popular demand. The dark comedy written and performed by Candice Bernstein (Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Vagina Monologues) is directed by multiple-award winner Jennifer Steyn. An auto-biographical one-woman show, earthside explores Bernstein’s journey as a first-time mother, diving head-first into her bittersweet reality of grieving while becoming a mother: a space where joy and sorrow collides in the most absurd ways. Tickets
For some pure unadulterated good times head over to Kalk Bay Theatre for The Ash & Brad Show. Showcasing the best and worst acts from their 15 years performing together, the evening promises belly laughs, killer dance moves and plenty of awe-inspiring acrobatics from the beefy, brilliant Searle Brothers. Runs from April 18 to May 3. Tickets
If you haven’t seen Black Coffee, the wonderful Agatha Christie with the splendid Alan Committie as Hercule Poirot, count yourself lucky that there is still time. Review: One balmy evening before the war …
Always such an interesting read. Keep 'em coming.