Day 36 - 64 - Swakopmund - Alte Brucke - P2

On Sunday we walked around the quaint shops in Swakopmund and found Slowtown Coffee Shop which makes the best coffee in Namibia. They roast their own beans and the expressos are terrific along with the home baked snacks. Slowtown has become our daily destination for our coffee fix.

On Monday we ordered a replacement BFGoodrich All Terrain tyre from TyreMart which was fitted on Tuesday. On Monday evening we enjoyed sundowners at the Tug Restaurant.

On Tuesday we visited Walvis Bay and went to see the Salt Mine which is supposedly the largest in the world. We stopped along the Lagoon which has one off the largest and diverse bird populations in the world. We saw thousands of Flamingoes along with many other bird species. We stopped for lunch at The Raft Restaurant for a fantastic lunch comprising fish and chips before heading back to Swakopmund.

On Wednesday the Defender went in to Nico Theron at Vineta Shell for a routine service as we had clocked up many kilometers in the past 5 weeks. They did an excellent job and they certainly know Land Rovers inside-out. They picked up some maintenance issues that should have been addressed thousands of kilometers ago. We spent the best part of the morning visiting the Aquarium and Museum. These are worthwhile visiting. We had a delicious dinner at Jetty 1905 Restaurant. The Restaurant was built on the Jetty to help fund the ongoing maintenance of the jetty to keep it’s historical value .

Other restaurants that we enjoyed in Swakopmund and are worth visiting are: The Tug, Art Café, Lighthouse Bar & Grill, Bojos Café & Anton’s Café.

RESTAURANT WARNING: Even though this is supposed to be “low season”, most restaurants are fully booked regardless of the day of the week. You therefore need to book in advance.

The Swakopmund weather remained comfortable most of the time with nice sunny days with temperatures of 20C.

During the week of 28th November, Philip took 7 hours of Kite Surfing Lessons in Walvis Bay. Nicole & Andreas run a Kite Surfing shop opposite the Raft Restaurant on the Lagoon. Nicole was an excellent teacher. The Lagoon offers a safe kiting experience and the Lagoon water is about 26C which is far warmer than the Altantic Ocean. While my last lesson was on Sunday 30th Nov, I still need lots of practice. Hopefully I can do this in Mozambique in January.