Cloud 9 Boutique Hotel in Cape Town
After traveling in Kruger with my son, I decided to fly to Cape Town to visit my new friend who I met on the plane flying over from the U.S. That’s how I found myself all alone at Cloud 9, a boutique hotel in Cape Town. I had found Cloud 9 online while searching for a charming boutique hotel in Cape Town. After days spent on safari in Kruger National Park, and being awoken outside our tent by hyenas and large cats and then for the 5 a.m. safari drive on wicked cold mornings, stepping into my spacious light-filled room with deliciously clean and crisp sheets felt like the ultimate in comfort.
There were multiple levels to Cloud 9, each with sun-drenched corners, cozy lounges, and secret nooks that begged for me to curl up in with a good book. On the very top floor is where breakfast was served, a fire burning in the center of the room surrounded by windows, Table Mountain looming in the near distance, majestic and grounding.
Off the breakfast room was a cold plunge pool but in order to plunge I had to bother the staff to slide the wall of windows open so I could jump in, and then run barefoot down to the hot tub on the floor below. Going back and forth three or four times, my wet footsteps lingering behind me as I traipsed up and odown the stairs. After so many hours on the plane, my body craved movement, and to be awakened.
With my hotel perched high above the city with views stretching to Table Mountain, I plunged into the icy water, gasping at the shock before racing back up the stairs to the warmth of the hot tub. Back and forth I went, like a crazy American, the perfect training for the vertical, 2,000-foot climb I would soon tackle up Table Mountain with my friend.I 'm quite certain that I was not a common sight for hotel guests sleepily sipping on their coffee and quietly eating their breakfast. After the plunge (s) came a steaming rain shower, the scent of eucalyptus soap filling the air.
On my first evening solo, I dined at a seaside restaurant with the sun setting into the horizon blazing pink and gold over the water. With my Court of Thorns novel in one hand, a glass of velvety red wine in the other, I felt decadent and entirely content, pinching myself that I was in Cape Town all alone.
Hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town
I had heard that the view from the top of Table Mountain was stellar, but on the day we hiked the "Table Cloth," orographic clouds, had settled in and we hiked up the steep, slippery steps enshrouded in a wet, foggy mist. Nevertheless, hiking up any mountain will connect one deeper to the territory and the day indeed felt magical with treasures to be found, like a miniature dolphin tail pendant that was sitting on a rock.
