V&A Waterfront | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

I am pretty good at spotting a bird in a bush or a leopard in a tree when travelling in a game reserve but when it comes to spotting just the right item of clothing in a crowded mall I need an expert to accompany me. My fashion guru friend, Sharon, is just right for this task so early on Saturday morning we made our biannual trip to the shopping Mecca of Cape Town – THE VICTORIA AND ALFRED WATERFRONT

Wikipedia describes it as follows:

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in the historic heart of Cape Town‘s working harbour is South Africa’s most-visited destination, having the highest rate of foreign tourists of any attraction in the country.^[1] Situated between Robben Island and Table Mountain and set against a backdrop of sea and mountain views, it offers a variety of shopping and entertainment options to visitors, intermingled with office locations, the Somerset Hospital, hotels (such as the historical Breakwater Lodge – once a 19th-century prison) and luxury apartments in the residential marina.

I couldn’t put it better myself but I shall try to put my personal slant on it as I describe my fabulous day spent there yesterday. We tend to get rather insular in my niche down in the deep, deep south of the southern suburbs of Cape Town and trekking ‘over the mountain’ is like going to a foreign country for some of us! Sharon and I were in high spirits as we set off leaving a galing black south easter behind us and entering a less windswept and sunnier city. I was too ‘snoep’ to park inside where you pay a fortune per hour so found an outdoor spot where we only paid R10 for the entire day! It required a short walk to the V&A entrance but we were cool with that!

I am visiting Australia in six weeks time so Christmas shopping was on the top of my agenda closely followed by Summer Wardrobe. This is where Fashion Guru Sharon was to prove helpful. Let me explain – when we go walking, Sharon will say – “Did you see that girl’s belt?” And I will reply, “No, where?’ A little further on I will ask, – “Did you see that bird?” And she will reply, “No, where?” So you see my need! Racks and racks of clothing – and I just get all confused. No seriously – I know what I want – it’s finding it that’s the problem. So having my fashion advisor is a great help.

Shoes, as you know are irresistible to any girl, even when she’s in her sixties, so it made sense to stop at Green Cross first – and yes – the perfect flatties suitable for old ladies were found and bought! Sometimes when we shop we get irritated that assistants are disinterested and unhelpful. But today we met a new calibre of sales people who looked as though they enjoyed what they were doing and bent over backwards to show us their wares. Perhaps they saw the Gold Card coming?

I was keen to get gifts of quality with an South African feel – novel but nice. Here again I was pleasantly surprised. Excellent service and enthusiasm from those selling form carts as well as those in the more formal shops and the prices were reasonable. I get really annoyed when I see tourists are being ripped off. I didn’t see much of it on The Waterfront yesterday! But having said that – tourists beware – it does happen – shop around!

African Art Stall

After an hour or two of success we went to Melissa’s for a coffee – caffeine is so important for shopping stamina. We prowled every walkway, passage and shop and at lunchtime hit The Greek Fisherman, sat outdoors and had a delicious Sushi Platter for two – Yes I know – Japanese at a Greek Restaurant doesn’t sound right – but you can get sushi anywhere nowadays and it was excellent!

Pirate Ship in the harbour

Table cloth on the mountain

Our energies renewed, we set off to complete our shopping determined to explore every possible shop ending with the ‘platinum passage’ where the designer shops are situated – way above our budget but worth a visit anyway. Surprise, surprise – I saw a little number I couldn’t resist and on inspecting the price tag, found that I could in fact afford it!

Time flew and at 5 o’clock we needed coffee and Baklava before trekking back over the mountain to our normal lives. No more swanning it on foreign shores. But it was fun while it lasted and we did enjoy pretending to be fabulous in glamourland!

Ladies at leisure

Thank you V&A Waterfront, The Greek Fisherman, La Player, Queen’s Park, Pia Boutique, Country Road, Forever New,Call it Spring, Zoom, The Red Shed and all the crafty carts for helping us into escapism. The retail therapy was great!

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Something I have learnt teaching at my school is this. ‘Don’t expect anything to be the same as it was before – there is always change and there are always surprises’ This applies to the curriculum as well as the end of year treat! This year we were simply told – the buses will be here at 11 – be ready! Now some people just don’t like surprises and had to be reassured that we would not be doing anything strenuous, uncomfortable or dangerous. Others had to know ‘what to wear’ while others were concerned about the expected time of return. But I was just thrilled that I didn’t have to think about it, didn’t have to pay for it and didn’t even have to drive myself there! I was just delighted to be getting a treat at all!

The secret almost slipped out of the organiser’s mouth this morning at our Keep in Touch meeting – but still I was in the dark until the bus turned toward the Waterfront and with a little thrill of Oh Boy – I realised it was to The One and Only – Cape Town we were going.

As we disembarked from the bus, one of our staff said, “If anyone asks, tell them we’re from ……..”and she mentioned the name of a neighbouring school. – Let them get the bad reputation for bad behaviour! Ha ha – no of course we didn’t misbehave!

We felt so special being welcomed by staff in smart livery, and shown to a lounge with comfortable chairs and couches arranged around coffee tables set with cups, saucers and cutlery. A waitress appeared and invited us to help ourselves to the delicious savoury and sweet confectionery on a buffet table. We needed no second invitation. We tucked in to the delicate sandwiches, quiches, savoury tarts and pies and returned for the tiny iced cup cakes, cheese cakes, scones and the like and drank excellent coffees and teas. A pianist played and sang beautiful music that was not intrusive on the conversation but added to the ambience of the luxurious setting. The view out to the harbour added to the perfection of the afternoon.

I seldom leave home without my camera but today I forgot and so had to rely on my new BlackBerry to take some snaps. I do not blame the phone – only my lack of experience in using its camera function – for the poor quality of the photos below.

A lovely spread

What a treat

After we’d all enjoyed our tea/coffee and delectable goodies, some of us went for a walk and some enjoyed cocktails on the stoep – or both.

A lifestyle we could get used to

Couldn’t wish for a nicer setting

The One and Only Spa has springbuck drinking at the fountain

How about a leisure cruise

This is The One and Only – Cape Town

Enjoying the view

A wonderful place to chill

All too soon it was time to say a few sad farewells to colleagues who for various reasons will not be returning next year. And then it was back onto the buses and a return to our normal plebeian lives. But we bonded with colleagues and morale was up – a lovely way to end the school year! Thanks to Leadership for surprising us with a fun way to end a busy but rewarding year!