One week. Just one week. Seven days from today Fiance and I are hopping on a plane and 36 hours (SERIOUSLY 36 HOURS OF PLANES AND AIRPORTS) later we’ll be in Portland, Oregon. It’s been a phenomenal year, Cape Town.

Something that’s been on our list of things to do while we’re here since we landed has been Chapman’s Peak Drive. It’s a stretch of road, only about two miles, you pay to drive through on the coast between Hout Bay and Noordhoek. It’s carved into the side of a mountain, part of Table Mountain National Park. In fact, part of the drive is almost a cave because of the way it’s carved into the mountain. Only a little scary.

Pause for a sec here and just look at that water in the photo above. Have you ever seen anything like this? Not only am I staring at gorgeous, turquoise water, I’m staring at it from high up the side of a mountain. Normally you only see this water next to stretches of white beach. Instead, I’m looking this water in an expansive bay surrounded by green shrubland. What is this place?!

There is literally no flora like that of the Western Cape of South Africa’s anywhere else in the world. Driving through Cape Town I’ve spotted wild zebras, ostriches, and baboons. We didn’t spot any this particular day, but there were plenty of these creatures nearby.

And this bizarre mountain range! Look at those weirdly shaped peaks. All that just a 15 minute drive from the weirdest mountain of them all, Table Mountain.

At the end of our drive, we drove down to Noordhoek beach, a popular horseback riding spot. It was deserted while we were there except for a few others. The beach is gigantic and, of course, incredibly beautiful.

We ended our day at one of my favorite spots that we’ve been to in South Africa: The Noordhoek Farm Village. It’s made up of a hotel, several shops, and a couple of bars and restaurants. The best spot is the deli at night where they serve tapas. I’ve had some of the best food of my life there. This particular day, we went to The Toad bar, which is a great spot with amazing pub food. Fiance got a burger of ridiculous proportions, and I got a pizza (pizzas here are “personal” size) with camembert cheese, salami, and candied green figs. It was as delicious as it sounds.

I’ll save you all the sob story. But Cape Town, our time was too short.