When the cast of The Widow landed in Cape Town to begin shooting last year, the city was in the midst of its worst drought in history. “You were advised to only shower every other day and for no longer than two minutes,” recalls Alex Kingston, who plays charity worker Judith Gray in the ITV drama. “So I did my bit. I found a champagne bucket in the apartment I was staying in, and every other day I’d straddle the bucket while showering and try to catch as much water as I could and then use it to flush the toilet.” Happily, Cape Town is no longer at risk of running out of water, but the authorities are still encouraging tourists to do everything they can to conserve it.
While Cape Town has become a popular location for film and TV productions in the last decade, standing in for the Democratic Republic of Congo in the case of The Widow, this was the first time Kingston had worked there. Shower gymnastics aside, she adored it: “It got under my skin. The people, the crew, everybody in production were just so nice and really hard-working.”
TAKE A HIKE
The things that attract film and TV to Cape Town also make it one of the world’s most captivating cities for tourists: gorgeous beaches, towering mountains and vine-carpeted valleys on its doorstep, a vibrant art scene and laidback lifestyle, wonderful food and wine, great shopping and a favourable exchange rate. But where to start?
DINE IN STYLE
Like the city itself, Cape Town’s world-class restaurants are proudly cosmopolitan, and you can enjoy fine dining and superb wines for a fraction of the price in London or New York. To try Capetonian flavours, book a table at Upper Bloem (upperbloemrestaurant.co.za), where exquisite sharing dishes are inspired by the head chef ’s childhood in Bo-Kaap, a suburb that originally housed Malaysian and Indonesian slaves. You can find handcrafted souvenirs and fashionable cafés at the Old Biscuit Mill, a mall in an old factory. Book early to try the tasting menu at The Test Kitchen (thetestkitchen.co.za), crowned the best restaurant in Africa last year.
HOP ON A WINE TRAM
As European settlers soon discovered, the Western Cape’s balmy Mediterranean climate is ideal for vine cultivation. If you’d like to explore its scenic vineyards and quaff their wares, you can book a transfer to Franschhoek and then hop on the wine tram, a Victorian-style tram and vintage truck that shuttles between historic wineries offering full-bodied reds, light whites and cap classiques (South Africa’s premium bubbly). Encircled by blue-tinged peaks, the boho town was founded 300 years ago by French Huguenot refugees and established its gastronomic reputation long before Cape Town’s. Several of the valley’s gabled farmsteads are now boutique hotels.
VISIT MADELA’S ISLAND PRISON
Nelson Mandela spent 18 years on Robben Island, the maximum-security jail where high-profile political prisoners were incarcerated during apartheid. This notorious islet five miles off shore is now a museum and World Heritage Site. The tours, led by former prisoners, include Mandela’s eight-foot-by-seven-foot cell and the limestone quarry where he chiselled away every day under a blinding sun. Several ferries a day leave from the V&A Waterfront and it’s best to pre-book (robben-island.org.za). District Six Museum in East City (districtsix.co.za) also paints a moving picture of a multiracial neighbourhood that was declared a whites-only area in the 1960s. Some 60,000 residents were forcibly removed, including many of the museum’s staff.
PICK UP A PENGUIN
The city is flanked by miles of pristine beaches such as the powder-soft Camps Bay Beach, where you can take a chilly dip in tidal pools. The Cape Peninsula also boasts what might just be the country’s most beautiful road – Chapman’s Peak Drive, a 9km toll road carved into terracotta cliffs, high above the crashing waves of the deep-blue Atlantic. From there, the ocean road snakes south to the towering bluffs of Cape Point and the wind-whipped Cape of Good Hope, where baboons roam. As it winds back towards the city, you reach Boulders Beach, which is home to thousands of rare and dinky African penguins.
When the cast of The Widow landed in Cape Town to begin shooting last year, the city was in the midst of its worst drought in history. “You were advised to only shower every other day and for no longer than two minutes,” recalls Alex Kingston, who plays charity worker Judith Gray in the ITV drama. “So I did my bit. I found a champagne bucket in the apartment I was staying in, and every other day I’d straddle the bucket while showering and try to catch as much water as I could and then use it to flush the toilet.” Happily, Cape Town is no longer at risk of running out of water, but the authorities are still encouraging tourists to do everything they can to conserve it.
While Cape Town has become a popular location for film and TV productions in the last decade, standing in for the Democratic Republic of Congo in the case of The Widow, this was the first time Kingston had worked there. Shower gymnastics aside, she adored it: “It got under my skin. The people, the crew, everybody in production were just so nice and really hard-working.”
TAKE A HIKE
The things that attract film and TV to Cape Town also make it one of the world’s most captivating cities for tourists: gorgeous beaches, towering mountains and vine-carpeted valleys on its doorstep, a vibrant art scene and laidback lifestyle, wonderful food and wine, great shopping and a favourable exchange rate. But where to start?
DINE IN STYLE
Like the city itself, Cape Town’s world-class restaurants are proudly cosmopolitan, and you can enjoy fine dining and superb wines for a fraction of the price in London or New York. To try Capetonian flavours, book a table at Upper Bloem (upperbloemrestaurant.co.za), where exquisite sharing dishes are inspired by the head chef ’s childhood in Bo-Kaap, a suburb that originally housed Malaysian and Indonesian slaves. You can find handcrafted souvenirs and fashionable cafés at the Old Biscuit Mill, a mall in an old factory. Book early to try the tasting menu at The Test Kitchen (thetestkitchen.co.za), crowned the best restaurant in Africa last year.
HOP ON A WINE TRAM
As European settlers soon discovered, the Western Cape’s balmy Mediterranean climate is ideal for vine cultivation. If you’d like to explore its scenic vineyards and quaff their wares, you can book a transfer to Franschhoek and then hop on the wine tram, a Victorian-style tram and vintage truck that shuttles between historic wineries offering full-bodied reds, light whites and cap classiques (South Africa’s premium bubbly). Encircled by blue-tinged peaks, the boho town was founded 300 years ago by French Huguenot refugees and established its gastronomic reputation long before Cape Town’s. Several of the valley’s gabled farmsteads are now boutique hotels.
VISIT MADELA’S ISLAND PRISON
Nelson Mandela spent 18 years on Robben Island, the maximum-security jail where high-profile political prisoners were incarcerated during apartheid. This notorious islet five miles off shore is now a museum and World Heritage Site. The tours, led by former prisoners, include Mandela’s eight-foot-by-seven-foot cell and the limestone quarry where he chiselled away every day under a blinding sun. Several ferries a day leave from the V&A Waterfront and it’s best to pre-book (robben-island.org.za). District Six Museum in East City (districtsix.co.za) also paints a moving picture of a multiracial neighbourhood that was declared a whites-only area in the 1960s. Some 60,000 residents were forcibly removed, including many of the museum’s staff.
PICK UP A PENGUIN
The city is flanked by miles of pristine beaches such as the powder-soft Camps Bay Beach, where you can take a chilly dip in tidal pools. The Cape Peninsula also boasts what might just be the country’s most beautiful road – Chapman’s Peak Drive, a 9km toll road carved into terracotta cliffs, high above the crashing waves of the deep-blue Atlantic. From there, the ocean road snakes south to the towering bluffs of Cape Point and the wind-whipped Cape of Good Hope, where baboons roam. As it winds back towards the city, you reach Boulders Beach, which is home to thousands of rare and dinky African penguins.