Paternoster: 92 miles north of Cape Town and our first stop. I couldn’t wait to get in our car and start driving, I convinced Tom we had to stop in Paternoster for a night on our way to Namibia in order to break up the 8 hour drive. I failed to mention that Paternoster was only two hours north of Cape Town, and one of those hours would be spent driving west, decidedly out of the way of our northern route to Namibia. But the pictures online made it look like an Afro-Greek paradise and I needed to see for myself.
We passed a large township just outside Paternoster. I think we both largely ignored it, not yet ready to turn out brains on and think. We were still tiptoeing into this trip. We exchanged a few thoughts about the living conditions and then left it alone. We have 10,000 miles to sort the world. Right now I was focused on which of the acclaimed restaurants in Paternoster we were going to eat at for lunch.
We rented an Airbnb in the center of town which came equipped with the essentials: a bed, a hammock, and an ocean view. The town is visually very uniform, which makes it particularly striking. White houses, boxy and double story, with blue window frames and matching blue roofs. The harsh midday light reflected off the white stucco making everything look electric. The houses mimicked the palette of the beach, the white sand and blue Atlantic. Everything looked remarkably pleasant in Paternoster.
We passed a large township just outside Paternoster. I think we both largely ignored it, not yet ready to turn out brains on and think. We were still tiptoeing into this trip. We exchanged a few thoughts about the living conditions and then left it alone. We have 10,000 miles to sort the world. Right now I was focused on which of the acclaimed restaurants in Paternoster we were going to eat at for lunch.
We rented an Airbnb in the center of town which came equipped with the essentials: a bed, a hammock, and an ocean view. The town is visually very uniform, which makes it particularly striking. White houses, boxy and double story, with blue window frames and matching blue roofs. The harsh midday light reflected off the white stucco making everything look electric. The houses mimicked the palette of the beach, the white sand and blue Atlantic. Everything looked remarkably pleasant in Paternoster.
We wandered down the beach until we reached a restaurant with a sushi sign. Our Airbnb hosts, Christina and Muller, recommend we eat there. They never told us the name, just said it was five houses from the end of the beach and would have a sushi sign outside.
We sat at a table outside overlooking the beach. We ordered oysters from Walvis Bay and a platter of sushi. I ordered a glass of rose and asked Tom if we really had to continue our road trip. The lunch was as delicious as my high expectations had hoped. We lingered for a long time, talking about our trip so far which we knew was silly since we had only driven 2 hours.
We spent the rest of the day meandering around town. We went for a run on the beach and Tom (who ran further) found two dead seals washed up on shore. My run ended earlier and I watched a family picking mussels off of rocks and waded in the water while I waited for Tom. Then we went back and debated starting a blog before deciding against it.
We sat at a table outside overlooking the beach. We ordered oysters from Walvis Bay and a platter of sushi. I ordered a glass of rose and asked Tom if we really had to continue our road trip. The lunch was as delicious as my high expectations had hoped. We lingered for a long time, talking about our trip so far which we knew was silly since we had only driven 2 hours.
We spent the rest of the day meandering around town. We went for a run on the beach and Tom (who ran further) found two dead seals washed up on shore. My run ended earlier and I watched a family picking mussels off of rocks and waded in the water while I waited for Tom. Then we went back and debated starting a blog before deciding against it.
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We saw Christina and Muller on our way back into the house. They told us they had just been on a two week road trip through Namibia. Christina said she would give us advice anytime and that the door to their house was open. She also told us about their son-in-law who owns a vineyard and showed us the bottle of his wine in our room. The label is called Storybook and the bottle of Pinotage had a picture of a young girl on it, reaching skyward. Christina told us that was Elle, their first granddaughter. We happily bought the wine and opened it shortly thereafter. Later on that afternoon I wanted to talk more with Christina and Muller but felt nervous about intruding so didn’t walk into their house. I regretted not being more forward.
We only saw them again when they were leaving for dinner that evening. Muller was packing the car with two arm fulls of Storybook. He held out a bottle of us to take, we told him we already had one but he just pushed the bottle further in our direction until we accepted. Christina came out of the house a second later with her big camera. They were headed to the sushi place for dinner - she said it has the best view of the sunset. After years of living here, she is still captivated by the sunset in her own backyard.
We followed their lead and went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was magnificent. I think we were both cautious, this early into our trip, to be impressed by anything. The stars are nice, but we’ll see better ones in Namibia. The sunset is pretty, but we’ll see better ones on game drives in Zambia. But as the sun continued to set, there was no part of us that assumed we’d see anything better: this was the most beautiful sunset either of us had ever seen and we’d be hard pressed to beat it on the rest of our trip.
We only saw them again when they were leaving for dinner that evening. Muller was packing the car with two arm fulls of Storybook. He held out a bottle of us to take, we told him we already had one but he just pushed the bottle further in our direction until we accepted. Christina came out of the house a second later with her big camera. They were headed to the sushi place for dinner - she said it has the best view of the sunset. After years of living here, she is still captivated by the sunset in her own backyard.
We followed their lead and went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was magnificent. I think we were both cautious, this early into our trip, to be impressed by anything. The stars are nice, but we’ll see better ones in Namibia. The sunset is pretty, but we’ll see better ones on game drives in Zambia. But as the sun continued to set, there was no part of us that assumed we’d see anything better: this was the most beautiful sunset either of us had ever seen and we’d be hard pressed to beat it on the rest of our trip.
The curtains finally closed on the sunset and it was time for dinner at the Noisy Oyster. Dinner was delightful - we sat on colorful cushions in an outside garden with a boisterous atmosphere. There were fires burning in two fireplaces. We drank homemade blueberry gin - which was significantly better (and stronger) than it sounds. We played a card game without knowing the rules, ate more oysters, and felt extremely content. This trip is easy.