Traveling on our own in Cape Town necessitated a car and mobile phone rentals. An offline GPS app made navigation simple, but driving on the left side of the road was a challenge. Upon arrival, we were relieved to leave the car at the Cape Heritage Hotel while we explored the city on foot. A trek through colorful Bo Kaap led us to lunch at Biesmiellah, where the delicate samosas and aromatic Cape Malay curries warmed our bellies. We admired the art deco architecture along the way to the Castle of Good Hope just before closing. Unable to locate the elusive entrance of nearby District Six Museum, we retired to the hotel instead before our dinner reservations. The restaurant turned out to be closed, so we instead found a table at Savoy Cabbage. Here, we enjoyed a twice-baked cheese souffle, veal sweetbreads, and gamey zebra, with a view of a flying Desmond Tutu sculpture beside us. The high-end decor contrasted with the locked gate and parking attendant outside, reminding us to be careful in Cape Town. On Tuesday, we were relieved to secure last-minute tickets for the afternoon ferry to Robben Island. After breakfast, we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium right at opening, which allowed us to beat the crowds and watch the curators take one of the resident penguins for his morning stroll. From there, we walked along the V&A Waterfront and filled up on oysters and mussels at Den Anker. A ferry took us from the Nelson Mandela gateway to Robben Island, where organized tour buses guided us through the sites before a past inmate took us to the actual cell where Mandela was jailed for 18 years. We were not disappointed when we finally made it to Aubergine, with exotic rabbit consume, octopus chowder, aubergine souffle, and blue wildebeest on the menu. We awoke early the following day to embark on a peninsula drive, starting with Kirstenbosch Garden, home to a variety of fynbos and the king protea, South Africa’s national flower. We drove further south to view the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach before arriving at the Cape Point Ostrich Farm. The farm tour showed us the breeding and hatching process, although we were disappointed that ostrich was not on the lunch menu. Instead, we got our first taste of the bird at the base of the Flying Dutchman Funicular, where we chowed down on ostrich pizza while awaiting our cable car ride up to the lighthouse at Cape Point. The spectacular views offered plenty of panoramic photo ops along the way down to the Cape of Good Hope, where tourists cared more about taking pictures with the big sign than the actual scenery. We raced through the rest of the nature reserve to get back to the Table Mountain Cableway, only to find that the attraction was closed for annual repairs. We were consoled with a sunset view, followed by a romantic dinner at the Roundhouse. The long day and fantastic meal put us fast to sleep in preparation for our long drive the next morning.