Day 238: Lion’s Head

Things I wanted to do in Cape Town but could not justify going even more over budget than I already am included repelling off of Table Mountain, cage diving with sharks, and eating at famous (some fancy) restaurants. Instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money doing one of those things on our last afternoon in Cape Town, we climbed Lion’s Head for free. Repelling and cage diving will simply have to wait until next time.

After a quick drive to the base of Lion’s Head, we began our climb before the sun got too hot. What was cool about the climb was how it circled around Lion’s Head as you went up so you got different views of Cape Town, Table Mountain, and beautiful views of the ocean as climbed up and around. You also went in and out of the sun and shade so when you got too hot, suddenly you were walking in the shade and were able to cool off.

It turned out to be quite a lovely climb and I regretted (only slightly) not scheduling more time for the trek up. Close to the top, we were told it was another forty minutes to get to the very top. Forty minutes Andrew didn’t think we had. We cut our climb short and headed back down to have enough time to look for some street art I saw from the bus the previous day, get to the airport, return the car, and check in.

Going on a scavenger hunt for street art in a city you do not know the lay of the land for, and you left your bus route behind at the hostel turned into a little adventure. I knew roughly where the two paintings were, and Andrew pulled up Google to help navigate our way there. A few circles later, I was able to hop out and snap a few shots before we picked up our bags and headed to the airport for our first of three flights to Istanbul!