Qatar...Day 28

We took breakfast once again in the local souk, we then strolled along the seafront, which has a very impressive promenade, with beautifully kept gardens and on towards  the fish market. 

We passed a huge building site and asked one of the workers what the site was, he told us that they were constructing the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium football stadium for the 2022 World cup.

We returned to the hotel's room top garden for a cooling drink and to take in the panoramic views of the city. 

Doha - Qatar...Day 27

Our first day of our stopover in Doha,  Qatar, started with a walk over to the Souq waqif, the old market in old Doha. We had a late brunch before walking over to the Corniche on the water front and the old harbour with it many dhows (traditional wooden boats.)

Our next stop was the impressive Museum of Islamic art with its superb views of the business area.

We the hopped on a dhow for a cruise across the harbour for a closer view of the stunning skyline.

We then made our way back to the souk and wandered through the falcon and bird souq.

Our final stop of the day was a a traditional Arabic restaurant  for a lovely meal of local dishes.

Leaving South Africa for Qatar...Day 26

We woke up to heavy rain in Camp's bay, but it soon cleared and we took a cab for the 30 minute ride to Capetown airport. We treated ourselves to the Bidvest lounge and had a good breakfast. 

Once again we flew with Qatar airways and it was a long, bumpy ride to Qatar due to turbulence.
We landed in Doha at midnight and there were long queues at immigration. We finally got to our hotel around 2.30am.

We checked into the Horizon manor hotel and were surprised to find out that we had been upgraded to a large suite. 

Final day in South Africa....Day 25

On our final day in South Africa started  with drive along the dramatic Atlantic seaboard towards Cape Town.

We made our way out of the City toward the Constantia area...Yes,  you guessed it, another wine area of the Country. This time we only had time to visit two wine farms. 

The first was Groot Constantia, an impressive place with commanding views of the mountains and to the distant coastline. In the tasting room we met and got talking to an elderly , rather posh, English lady who was quite lubricated for that early in the day. She asked me if I had ever visited the Isle of wight,  I answered.."Only during my stay at Parkhurst"...she nearly spat her wine out.

We then moved onto the Eagle's nest wine farm, this was only a small place but had beautiful, shaded grounds. We decided that this was the place for lunch, that served a lovely platter of  Cheeses, pickles
 breads, crackers, olives and dips, all washed down with a very agreeable bottle of chilled Sauvignon blanc.

Back in Camp's bay we had a final drink and watched the sunset over the sea, a perfect end to our time in South Africa.  Tomorrow we begin the long journey home.

Thanks to everyone who followed our blog and made such lovely comments...cheers.

Hout Bay....Day 24

A slight delay in proceedings this morning, mainly  due to post match celebrations after last night's rugby result.

We made our way over to Hout bay, an old favourite of ours. First up was a boat trip out in the bay with it's beautiful views  of Chapman's peak and then over to seal island with its 100's of seals basking on the rocks.

We had lunch at Fisherman's wharf, a lovely spot with great views and the fish there was delicious.
  












We walked off our lunch with a walk along the lovely,  crescent shaped beach with it's fine white sand, although the water was a bit cold for our liking.

We finished off our visit to Hout bay with a refreshing drink at the "Dunes" restaurant overlooking the bay.

It was the time to "call" our Uber cab, it was  the first time we had used this service and it has been simply superb,  easy to use and so cheap. For example, our ride home from Hout bay to Camps bay was around (14 km ) 25 minutes, due to Sunday traffic and the cost was 47 rand, around 3 euros.

Camp's Bay and Company gardens......Day 23

We woke up in Camp's bay to find the town covered in sea mist, we took a walk along the seafront which even early in the morning was a hive of activity on the beach. 











We then drove the 10 minutes to Cape town where the weather was totally different, sunny and hot. We took a stroll around Company gardens which is a haven of tranquility in the heart of a busy City. There was a lot of activity in these gardens that sit in the shadow of Table mountain, they were even shooting  a TV  advert.

Back in Camp's bay we took a late afternoon stroll on the beach, there were lots of families enjoying the late afternoon  sunshine and we came across a wedding that was taking place at the edge of the Ocean.

In the evening we went over to Dizzys bar to watch a very tight rugby match between Wales and England,  Wales snatched victory in the dying minutes. 

Leaving Durban...Day 22

An early start meant that we were off the ship by 8.15 and heading to Durban airport for the two hour flight back to Cape Town. 

We were collected by our shuttle transfer and driven to the coastal town of Camp's bay.
This small town only has one main street that runs along the seafront that backs onto a glorious beach.











After unpacking, we took a stroll down the seafront which was pretty busy being Friday night. We ended up at "The Codfather" , a so called concept restaurant,  which has no menu, you tell them  which fish you want a how much in weight.  The meal was very good although a little on the pricey side.

MSC Musica...Day 16 to 21

At Durban harbour we boarded the MSC Musica cruise ship. After the safety drill we sailed out of port at 3.00 pm . A couple of hours after leaving there was an announcement that our itinerary had to be changed due to adverse weather conditions. 

After the sail away party we strolled down to the ship's theatre to watch the "Queen" band themed show.

Our only stop on this mini cruise was at Portuguese Island,  a sort of private beach for MSC cruise ships, the local authorities wanted UK passport holders to pay 50 USD each for a Visa, so we gave it a miss.

Back in Durban......Day 15

An interesting start to the day, we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast  and noticed a procession of well dressed locals walking through the restaurant into an adjoining conference room. 
We soon realised It was the local church meeting, the preaching and gospel music soon filled the restaurant,  a bit of a surreal moment.

We then had a relaxing morning  before a walk down the board walk, it was hot and windy so we stopped off several times for water and a spot of people watching. At lunchtime we dropped onto a bar/restaurant  called “ Wahooz", what a find,  they had live music on an open air stage and the band were “The Afro Divas", four local girls with amazing voices and harmonies.  Of course, Mandy had to mention the old forthcoming big birthday, and they invited me to “throw my shapes" I think I bluffed my way through it.

We finished off our stay In Durban with a fish supper overlooking the Ocean.  The people Of Durban have been  so friendly,  welcoming  and helpful to us, a credit to their country. 

St Lucia...Day 14

On our final day in South Africa’s oldest national park, we had another early morning start for our 4th game drive. We saw two huge Rhino cross in front of us and plenty of other animals even though the weather was against us.

We said goodbye to the Hluhluwe game reserve and drove over to the coast of the Indian Ocean. We stopped of at the small town of St Lucia which is known for its  Isimangaliso wetland park. We boarded a small boat and headed out into the estuary. 











Our first sighting was a crocodile guarding its nest high on the riverbank. We the headed further into the estuary  until we came upon a family of hippos numbering  around 20. The were just wallowing in the shallows keeping close together for warmth. They eat a huge amount of grass during the night and let of gas during the day, as we both found out, they stink to high hell.











It was then time to head back to Durban and a 2 and half our drive. We arrived back in Durban and said goodbye to our driver/guide,  the incredible  “Sibo", the guy is a legend, nothing was to much trouble for him, he had a great sense of humour and it was a pleasure to spend three days in his company.