travel

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Welcome to the Cape: Part II

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Welcome to the Cape: Part II

Cape Town is a special city. A Dutch colonial outpost for trade with Asia, settlers brought slaves from modern day Indonesia in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was subsequently controlled by the British bringing a wave of Indian migration. These communities mixed with the Africans indigenous to the Cape and with people of European settler ancestry. The result is a vivid mix of race, culture and religion.

One of the main highlights was visiting the small neighbourhood of Bo-Kaap. Home to the ‘Cape-Malay’ community – it’s a small Muslim community dating back to early 1800s and comprises a mix of Indonesian, Indian and other ethnic communities settled in Cape Town by European settlers. Small tightly backed houses like the streets with each house proudly painted in bright colours.

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Seville, Seville, Seville!

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Seville, Seville, Seville!

Our time spent is Seville went by so slowly!  Maybe it's just the slowed down lifestyle of the Spanish people that influenced our sentiment, but man, it felt like we were in Seville for a long time!  It was only 2.5 days, which was more than enough to see the incredible monuments and experience the laid back atmosphere and kind faces of the Sevillian life.

Laguna Shoot | Sea Candy Jewelry

As we set down our beach blanket and stretched out our legs onto the warm sands, we noticed a couple of girls all decked out in long flowy maxi dresses photographing their bracelets using their phones.  Being a sucker for all things shiny and at the cost of looking like a bit of a stalker, I approached them and asked if I might help.  I quickly found out that Olivia and Emily had established a small business designing and hand making unique jewelry using sea glass washed up along the Pacific shores of Laguna Beach.

The bigger picture

We thought we were seeing oasis villages not too far off into the distance.  Imagining tiny villagers scurrying about their busy day, preparing a delicious hot dinner for our arrival.  Snapping out of our daydreams, Ayman, our Western Desert guide who is from an actual oasis called Bahariya, insisted that there were no other souls in the desert.

Sharm baby Sharm...

Sharm baby Sharm...

You know a place is good when I forget that you’re actually in Egypt (No offence to my Egyptian friends … Cairo is well … Cairo). We debated about going to Europe instead – serious considering ignoring the advice of all of our friends in Europe who warned of rain, rain and more rain. But, as she has done so often, Mother Egypt sucked us back in. So we gave it another try. And thankfully we did.