We slept in until 8am this morning. Wow! That's a lot of sleep. The french doors in our room were open all night, the sound of the ocean right below no doubt lulling us into prolonged rest.
We headed downstairs for coffee and breakfast.
I have to say the food in South Africa is amazing. There's always a buffet with homemade granola and muesli, fresh bakery, tons of fresh fruits, interesting juices, yogurts and more. And then you order breakfast! We enjoyed ours on the back patio, listening to the waves and taking in the morning.
After breakfast, we hooked up with Matt and Marty for the walk into town.
There's a pathway that winds its way among the cliffs of Hermanus and extends for some 15km. We only did a portion of it but it was a gorgeous way to take in the views of the bay, interesting flora and fauna (yes, I did just say that) and more.
The scenery often was so ridiculous that it almost appeared fake, like in this picture where it looks like Mike and I are standing against a backdrop in a studio.
One of the things we came upon was this sign, a memorial undoubtedly for a right whale who either washed onshore or beached itself. Cute, interesting and an homage to the animals that make this bay their home for birthing and raising their young (and one of the main reasons people flock to the area -- it's a huge source of tourism dollars for the area).
Mandatory flora and fauna shot since I mentioned it. Actually, there were little pockets of this kind of thing throughout the cliffsides. I love the play of the hard rock off the soft, lightness of the flowers that seemingly grow out of the rock.
We finally made it to town, a small quaint place that was a collection of restaurants and shops like you'd find in many small tourist towns - a mix of a few interesting things with ticky tacky tourist shops selling shot glasses and t-shirts -- everything with whales and great white sharks (the other big tourist draw) on them.
I hit a bathroom at a little shopping "center" and inside was a box with free condoms. As you know AIDS and HIV is a huge issue across Africa. Rather than taking an approach preaching abstention as our government does, Africa hits it head on, offering ways to prevent the spread of the disease. I like that!
We called the car from the hotel to come and fetch us and we headed back to enjoy the rest of our day.
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