{"id":5751,"date":"2015-08-23T12:25:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T11:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ethosmarketing.co.uk.dedi391.nur4.host-h.net\/blog\/?p=5751"},"modified":"2019-10-02T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T13:19:03","slug":"24-hours-in-constantia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/08\/23\/24-hours-in-constantia\/","title":{"rendered":"24 Hours in Constantia"},"content":{"rendered":"

We arrived into glorious sunshine – not bad for winter in Cape Town!\u00a0\u00a0 Table Mountain was visible in all her glory and the Cape Town suburbs were looking lush.<\/p>\n

It was a very easy and quick journey from the airport to Glen Avon Lodge – a mere 25 minutes and we were turning off of Strawberry Lane in Constantia and buzzing on the intercom to enter the courtyard at the lodge.<\/p>\n

Here we were greeted by a very warm and friendly Tobias, who checked us in and showed us to our room.\u00a0 What a delight to cross our room, open the door and walk straight out into the gardens with a view over the grounds and the pool.\u00a0 Such a tranquil setting.<\/p>\n

Starving hungry after a long day travelling we quickly dropped our bags off and went for a short stroll to Peddlars.\u00a0 What a delight and such a bonus to have right on the doorstep.\u00a0 Peddlars was an interesting concept.\u00a0 One place with three very different dining options – Italian Fine Dining, local tapas style dining and pub dining. In addition a lovely walled garden. We dined in the tapas restaurant and had an antipasti platter to share of local meats and cheeses with freshly baked focaccia.<\/p>\n

\"Peddlars\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This really hit the spot and still left room for our evening meal which I was hoping would be the highlight of our stay!<\/p>\n

We would not be disappointed.\u00a0 Emmanuel was cooking for us.\u00a0 He started with Glen Avon in housekeeping but showed such interest in what chef and Manager Wendy did that it was soon clear that here was a talent to be nurtured and developed.\u00a0 Emmanuel produced beautifully presented, exquisitely seasoned cuisine using fresh and local ingredients.\u00a0 A truly memorable meal.<\/p>\n

Over dinner, the owners, Annette and David, regaled us with stories relating to the history of Glen Avon, its significance within the local Muslim community and plans for its future.\u00a0 They explained that now that we were in the winter season, notoriously quiet for the Cape region, they used this time to run more intense staff training.\u00a0 One of their key exercises was to get the staff out in Cape Town and the region to experience the key tourist sites that their guests would also want to see.\u00a0 This personal knowledge would put them in a far better place to be able to advise guests on activities.\u00a0 What a great concept.<\/p>\n

Waving farewell to our new friends we set off on a scenic trip along the coast to Simonstown to visit the penguins at Boulders Bay.\u00a0 This journey only took 30 minutes and enabled us to travel along the rugged coast line through towns such as Fish Hoek before reaching Simonstown.\u00a0 This was a beautiful and very quaint little town with ornate French styled balconies adorning the buildings along the Main Street.<\/p>\n

However the highlight was to be the penguins.\u00a0 I visited more than 14 years ago and it has transformed beyond all recognition.\u00a0 The SA National Parks board are involved and a visitor museum and a boardwalk trail have now been built.\u00a0 You can opt for the free boardwalk which takes you above the beach to look down or the paid for boardwalk which takes you right down to the beach.\u00a0 We did both!\u00a0 The free boardwalk was lovely.\u00a0 You are walking along a path cut through the trees and bushes with fencing to protect the penguins from you.\u00a0 This was breeding time so you were able to see the penguins up close sitting on their nests and some with their young.<\/p>\n

\"penguins\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We then paid out R60 to go down to the beach where you see the penguins playing in the water and in greater numbers.\u00a0 I even got a little wave from one just coming out of the surf!\u00a0 What a lovely way to end our 24 hours experiencing Glen Avon Lodge and one of the excursions they recommend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We arrived into glorious sunshine – not bad for winter in Cape Town! Table Mountain was visible in all her glory and the Cape Town suburbs were looking lush.
\nIt was a very easy and quick journey from the airport to Glen Avon Lodge – a mere 25 minutes and we were turning off of Strawberry Lane in Constantia and buzzing on the intercom to enter the courtyard at the lodge.<\/p>\n

Continue reading24 Hours in Constantia<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,5,121,6,1,59],"tags":[38,34,183,135],"class_list":["post-5751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-blog","category-cape-town","category-clients","category-default","category-south-africa","tag-constantia","tag-food","tag-penguins","tag-south-africa","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}