The Voorstrandt Restaurant in Paternoster on the South African Cape west coast is the perfect place to enjoy lunch, dinner or a drink while looking out over the beach and sea. Be warned though that they are very busy so if you’re going to be in the area and want to eat there, it’s best to call and make a reservation to avoid disappointment.
I suppose it’s due to the economy that there has been a slow start to the holiday season this year. Normally by this time our little town would be buzzing but as yet I’ve seen only a handful of cars with out-of-province plates.
This is what Strand beach looked like around 09:30 on Wednesday morning.
As seen below, Saturday was busier but still not as busy as I would expect at this time of year. December 16th is traditionally the date that most people start their vacations so I expect it will get busier during this week.
Tagged Beach, destination, holiday, South Africa, Strand, tourism, tourist, Western Cape
When we moved from Gauteng to the Western Cape at the end of 1999, we chose to live in Strand; mainly for the small-town atmosphere and the lovely beach front.
The small-town atmosphere is still largely there, despite the huge amount of development going on in the area around Somerset Mall. The beach front though, has changed dramatically; for the worse, most locals would feel. Gone are the small hotels and holiday apartment blocks that accommodated scores of holiday makers in the December summer holidays; they have mostly made way for flashy new high-rise residential apartment blocks, with more being built all the time. There are still a few houses and small blocks, but as the signs in this photo show; their days are numbered.
The new blocks going up are expensive, with apartments being advertised with come-ons like “From only R2,500,000”. Perhaps I’m naive but I fail to see how the word only can be used with a figure like that. I wonder who the residents of these new blocks are and how they feel about the state of the area their shiny towers are in? Beach Road and the beach front facilities, once the big tourist draw cards, are in disrepair. The historic jetty has been unusable for years but rather than being repaired or simply demolished, it has been fenced of in the most unsightly manner possible.
These canoes, beached in the old Hermanus harbour, are used for whale watching trips. It must be fantastic to get close to the whales in such small craft and there is probably great opportunity for photographing them; but I don’t fancy the idea of taking my camera out on the ocean in a canoe.
This photo from Strand beach, taken at 8:15 this morning, shows what a beautiful day it is in the Cape today. It’s warm but not too hot, with not a breath of wind. Sadly there is a cold front on the way, due to arrive tomorrow, that will bring some more rain.
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