Our last two weeks in Cape Town have been an absolute blur. We got back from the Wild Coast, water-logged and a little stir-crazy, and hit the ground running (or more accurately, hiking). Mary took us to the Newlands Forest and the Contour Path, which is a great series of moderate walking trails through the forest below Table Mountain. It's cool and shady and was the perfect warm up for our car-weary legs.

We also finally got to climb Table Mountain! We took the Skeleton Gorge route which is through Kirstenbosch Gardens. Unfortunately, you have to pay to enter the park, even if you just cut through to the trailhead. We think you can also get there from Constantia Nek or Rhodes Memorial to avoid the extra cost (around $10/person). It was a great hike - challenging and beautiful. The trail is pretty steep, but is wonderfully maintained and there are stairs, ladders and hand holds to help you along the way. Our favorite part of the climb was hiking up a waterfall in the middle of the forest. We got wet (nothing new for us after the Wild Coast) but the water was cool and felt great! Getting to the top took a bit longer than expected - it's about 4 hours up and as with most journeys the last bit seems to take forever. But, once we made it, we were rewarded with amazing views of the city. We walked the perimeter of the mountain (which is flat on top, like a table) and made our way to the cable car and bar area on the other side. We drank a cold beer and decided to pay for the cable car down - our legs were shot and our stomachs were empty. Mary met us at the base and swept us off to an amazing dinner at Royale, a well-known burger joint on Long Street.

The next day was a road trip out to Cape Point. Cape Point is not quite the southern most point on the continent, but it's definitely more scenic and more accessible from Cape Town. And, there are great stops along the way. Our first was Olympia Deli in Kalk Bay, a Cape Town staple that's been serving breakfast and lunch to hippies and beach bums for decades. The food was delicious, but burgers the night before and a big breakfast made for a few tummy aches. Not that we would let a little thing like that stop us. We headed on to Boulder's Beach, where hundreds of Atlantic Penguins make their home year round. We walked out to the beach expecting to see the March of the Penguins only to find a few tourists sitting in front of changing huts. Confused, we walked back to the entrance and learned that the best times to see the penguins are in the morning around 8am and in the evening around 5pm. Luckily, we could easily swing back by on our way home, so we left Boulder's and drove south the Cape Point.

Before heading back towards the penguins, we made a quick stop at Scarborough Beach, where I slept (and got stuck) in the car and B and Mary explored the shore. The penguins were waiting for us when we got back to Boulder's around 5, as promised. It was definitely worth the second trip. They are funny and entertaining birds, especially when they run.

Another highlight of the last two weeks were the sunsets. They were brilliant. And almost every night. We caught several above Camp's Bay, at Sunset Beach (appropriately named) and, our favorite, from the summit of Lion's Head. We hiked up with a cooler and bottle of wine, watched the sun go down and then realized we had no head lamps for the way down. Luckily, we did have liquid courage from the wine, so we scrambled down slowly, making friends along the way and stopping to see the city at night. The night view is almost as awesome as the sunset. Definitely do this if you're in Cape Town... But don't forget flashlights or headlamps!

Getting out and about in Cape Town again made us fall in love with the city all over again and was a bittersweet reminder than in one week, we'd be saying goodbye.