Book a table

Kalk Bay Books: a classy bookshop and delicious food. What more can you ask for?

Guiding light

The lighthouse at the end of the breakwater at the entrance to Kalk Bay Harbour - almost 100 years old. I suppose its more a beacon than a lighthouse but I imagine it has guided many a fishing boat into the harbour in its time.

Kalk Bay alleys

The fishing village of Kalk Bay has become very touristy in the last ten years, with cute little gift shops, first-rate bookshops, bakeries and eateries of all sorts from ice-cream parlours to fish and chips takeaways to the smartest of smart restaurants. You can wander round for hours browsing and stopping for an espresso or, in this hot summer weather, a beer. I wonder what's up this alley ...

Kalk Bay story

Along Main Road from Kalk Bay to Muizenberg there are major roadworks that have been going on for several years now and causing disruption and unhappiness. But some progress has been made and the first section from Muizenberg to St James is complete and looks very nice. Just the other day these colourful posters of scenes - old and new - of Kalk Bay appeared. Now you almost enjoy the traffic jam because they are so interesting.

Grey seas and skies

Its back to winter again for the meantime with a grey and choppy sea. Business as usual for the fishing boats at Kalk Bay harbour. Picutresque they may be, but the life of a fisherman is hard as this interesting blog by Jeremy Jowell depicts.

Bring on spring

A bleak, stormy day with traffic jams, endless roadworks and bad bad driving all around. Not feeling very spring-like this 2 September.

A night out with the Road Warriors

The Olympia Café in trendy Kalk Bay is well known for its delicious freshly baked fare and good food. There is also the Bakery Shop, in the same building but just round the corner from the Café, and through the shop is the bakery itself - in an old, high-ceilinged building that was once a cinema: The Olympic "bioscope". Last night, the baking ovens and sacks of flour were pushed aside, rows of chairs set out, and Tony Cox and Steve Newman arrived to enthrall us with their concert, The Return of the Road Warriors. Fabulous entertainment from two incredibly talented guys. What a wonderful evening - I can"t recommend it highly enough.
The photo above shows the old bakery at night.
Steve Newman signing his and Tony Cox's latest CD.
The poster on the bakery door.

Carefree

Summery weather today, and another colourful building in Cape Town. This is Theresa's Restaurant in laid-back Kalk Bay. Well worth a visit. There is often live music too - really great atmosphere and the food is consistently good.

Fire season

A plume of smoke rises over the Kogelberg mountains on the other side of False Bay where a fire has been raging for the last three days, although I hear that it is under control now. Fires are raging all around us and the weather is scorching hot and windless. The fynbos vegetation of the Cape is adapted to fire, but too-frequent fires caused by arsonists can be too much of a good thing even for the fynbos.
In the foreground, on the slopes of Muizenberg (part of Table Mountain) you can just see the circular monument that marks the grave of Abe Bailey, one of South Africa's mining magnates or Randlords who made his fortune in the early gold and diamond mining days in South Africa. He was a great benefactor of sport and the arts. Bailey's Muizenberg house, Rust en Vrede, was originally intended for his friend, Cecil John Rhodes, but Rhodes died before it was built.

Some Kalk Bay local vandals seem to have a sense of humour! (The original brass plaque long since stolen.)

C'est la Vie!

One of my favourite parts of town is the suburb/seaside village of Kalk Bay. This is C'est la Vie - a French-style cafe and boulangerie up one of the little cobbled streets where you can buy bread and other patries, or sit and have a cup of coffee and a croissant. What a life!
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Seaside lunch at the Olympia

A cold and wet day today. Perfect for lunch at the Olympia Cafe in Kalk Bay with a rainbow view and picturesque fishing boats.

Rainbow over St James Peak

On our Wednesday walk, a cold front shambled in over the mountains bringing some misty rain, and the most spectacular rainbow over St James Peak, which is above the little seaside suburb of St James.

For more skywatching click here.

Tortoise man?

Today's walk on Table Mountain took us up onto Cave Peak above Kalk Bay - not recommended for dogs and small children as there are lots of scary, dangerous caves. The rocks there are fashioned into bizarre creatures and gargoyles. Is this a tortoise man or an open mouthed-monster with one tooth?

Big Daddy

On our Father's Day walk up into the Kalk Bay mountains this morning, we looked back and saw this amazing profile on the cliff. In the photo to the left you can just see the mountains on the other side of False Bay.
Just heard that New Zealand and Italy drew their match today. Wow! Well done NZ. Lots of surprises.