Lunch in Guardian Peak in Stellenbosch on Freedoms day

In the middle of vinyards mountains and a big blue sky lies Guardian Peak restaurant in Stellenbosch

Awesome views delicious food and an endless supply of yummy wine

makes it difficult to leave

I was there for 3 and half hours !

It was a National holiday in South Africa 

 Freedoms day

Freedom Day commemorates the first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994

                          

Theses were the views from my table

I do not get a sense of autumn yet in Green Point but here it definitely looked like autumn with the russet colours of the vinyards Just so beautiful

This is the time of gorgeous sunsets as well

and the tents are steadily growing

A glimpse of the Cape Town Stadium from Three Anchor Bay.

                                                                     Spot the stadium

How I spend a random sunday In Cape Town

After a delicious lunch with live music in Cafe Roux in the Noord Hoek farm Village

I stopped at the Slangkop Light house in Kommetjie

View to Kommetjie from high up Slangkop hill

Kommetjie

a quaint coastal town with one of the largest tidal pools and Long Beach, a sensational stretch of white sand that is popular amongst fishermen, surfers, wave-skiers, and wind-surfers.

Is also famous for its excellent crayfishing

Then a slow drive with many stops and walks on the Chapmans Peak Drive  

one of the most dramatic marine routes in the world that hugs the coast of the Atlantic Seaboard for nine kilometres

The combination of steep, almost thrilling rocky inclines, shimmering blue waters and expansive skies simply takes the breath away

Hout Bay

Hout Bay (Afrikaans: Houtbaai, from the Dutch for "Wood Bay") is the name of a coastal suburb of Cape Town, South Africa with a mix of neighbourhoods from the very rich to the very poor

Hout Bay is surrounded by mountain to the North, East and West and the Southern Atlantic Ocean to the South. In the North it is bordered by Table Mountain National Park comprising of the Orangekloof Nature reserve and the bottom slopes of Table Mountain beyond that. To the North-West it is bordered by the backside of the Twelve Apostles, known as the Oranjekloof. To the West it is bordered by Little Lion's Head (Klein Leeukop), Karbonkelberg, Kaptein's Peak and the Sentinel. To the East it is bordered by the Vlakkenberg, Skoorsteenskopberg and Constantiaberg. The world famous Chapman's Peak Drive is carved out of the mountainside and leads towards Noordhoek and onwards to Cape Point.

Then via Llandudno and Camps Bay through the pass between Judas Peak (part of the Twelve Apostles) and Little Lion's Head and

half an hour later I am home

Just another fantastic sunday in my beloved Cape Town  

Cape Town Stadium and the Green Point Stadium bathed in a setting sun !

Fifa prints old stadium name on tickets

Just as the name Cape Town Stadium has started to become part of the lingua franca for locals, Fifa has revived the name Green Point Stadium by printing it, instead of the new name, on all match tickets.

Thousands of tickets with what appeared to be a misprint were sold last week in over-the-counter sales at Fifa ticket offices around the country.
Included with the ticket was a booklet that also referred to the stadium as Green Point Stadium.

The name was approved and changed by the City of Cape Town in September.
Local Organising Committee chief of communications Rich Mkhondo said today the name was not a misprint.

He said the Green Point name had been loaded on to the ticket sales system before the stadium was renamed.

"Although it may appear to be a misprint, it is not. At the time the stadium's information was loaded up, it still reflected the old name. But in accordance to Fifa policy, the name was changed to reflect its city. The ticket simply displays the old name and is not a concern."

Richard Saddington, from Milnerton, purchased a ticket for the preliminary Cape Town games on Friday. When he inspected it more carefully yesterday, he discovered what he thought was a misprint.

"This is both shockingly funny and horrible at the same time. Locals won't have any problem with it but tourists who don't know Cape Town might think we have two World Cup match venues.
I honestly think they should have done better."

Sequence of Cape Town Stadium shots from Beach Road, dwarfing Table Mountain

Each time I see the stadium from this view point I think : Wow ..

it really is huge .  and beautiful but I must admit if I lived this close I would not like it

FIFA Fan Fest tent erected on the Grand Parade in Cape Town CORRECTION ! Its not for the Fifa Fan Fest SEE BELOW

I just received this e mail and its self explanatory

Thank you so much Gerry !

Hi Joanne,

BTW I have your site as a Favourite .. every since you turned up on my Google with some amazing images of the CT Stadium.

I just wanted to correct your April 23 entry ... what's happening on the Grand Parade at the moment has nothing to do with FIFA and the upcoming Fan Fest location ... it's for the Red Bull Street Style World Final on April 27 / 28 and that fabulous dome structure will be gone a few days later.

I work for Gearhouse Cape Town and it's our handiwork!

Cheers
Gerry
PS... tried to post a comment on your site but even tho I logged in, Blogger returned an error!

 

Here local soccer fans will rub shoulders with visitors from all over the world while watching the matches and highlights on a big screen. Live performances by local artists on a huge stage and sound system will entertain fans in between matches. Food and drinks, official 2010 FIFA World Cup merchandising and local arts and crafts will also be on display or for sale.

The Grand Parade, newly upgraded by the City of Cape Town at a cost of around R22 million, can host up to 25 000 people. It is Cape Town’s oldest public space and one of Cape Town’s most important heritage sites - where Nelson Mandela first spoke to the world as a free man 20 years ago.

The Fan Fest will be open every day of the Competition, from 10:00 to midnight, with live broadcasts of all 64 matches. Entrance is free.

Meanwhile they broke the new Fritz Sonnenberg road up again to reveal this interesting pattern

Yes you guessed it ..Another facade strip done today..

and the tents on the old site are steadily growing

A Walk past the Cape Town Stadium

These sign posts are new

Construction of new foot bridge between old GP Stadium site and the Cape Town Stadium

This road is closed off now

So you can not drive around the stadium anymore

                                     There are many men sitting around the edge at work like this

                           

This is what a wet Cape Town Stadium looks like on a grey autumn day

A dirty drab wet grey facade and roof ,

reflecting the dirty drab grey autumn sky above

The Urban Park however looks refreshed and colourful and hopefully will soon look even better

 because the grass is in bad need of  rain and looks dead in some places

Come rain or shine it always does look interesting from here

See there are more tent  frames being build on the old Green Point site

The sky lightens and so does the stadium

It wasn't raining hard enough but it must have washed some of the dust from the facade

and after rain comes sunshine

The roof looks shiny and blue again

Does Eskom need to give some energy saving tips to the caretaker of Cape Town Stadium ?

                             
                          Or do you think that all these lights on the whole night are quite acceptable ?
                                        This photo was taken at 22.00 hrs this evening


                 Eskom has embarked on an energy saving initiative known as ‘Measure 2 Manage’
                                                                      Read more here

                     Above and below a few images I had not posted yet they are from the last test event

During the whole of the last test event there was a guy standing on the roof

I wonder if it was a security guy ?

Can you see him ? Orange top on the right .

It must be freezing at night

Photos of the IRT Stations around the Cape Town Stadium Will they be ready for the World Cup ?

And so they have filled the last hole in the facade today

I hope this is it now

I uploaded 3 video's here on my Youtube channel

which I took this afternoon from the Metropolitan Golf course

Video's are taken with a Canon Point and Shoot camera

                                 The Cherry Picker on the right is stuck, can't go up nor down
                                  The one in the middle is on its way to give a helping hand

Small Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) Station, Granger Bay Boulevard

Large IRT Station on Main Road, Green point

Pre-paid travel

Passengers using the IRT system will pay using a pre-paid IRT travel cards. Commuters will be able to buy ‘travel time’ at stations, shops and other outlets, which can be loaded onto the card, similar to prepaid ‘talk time’.

To enter an IRT station, passengers will swipe the card at the gate of the station, the system will establish whether there is enough credit on the card and if so, the gate will open accordingly.

Only travel cards can be used as payment on the IRT, no cash will change hands on the vehicles, which makes boarding faster and simpler. At the end of the trip, commuters must swipe their cards again to exit the station. The card reader at the gate will determine the distance travelled and deduct the cost of the journey from the balance on the card.

The IRT stations will have electronic display boards that will tell commuters how long it will take until the next IRT vehicle arrives at the station.
As soon as the IRT vehicle arrives, commuters will get onto the IRT vehicle and it will
leave the station. The IRT vehicle will not wait until it is full before it leaves.

The glass doors of the IRT trunk stations will be aligned with the doors of the vehicles. As the vehicle pulls onto the station the vehicle doors will automatically open at the same time as the station doors. The station’s floor height and the vehicle’s floor height will be the same, providing easy access for prams, bicycles and wheelchairs.
Once operational the IRT will provide Capetonians and visitors with a top quality, safe and reliable public transport service, that is focused on the customer.