I live in the wonderfully dodgy southern suburb called Observatory. ‘Obs’ as its inhabitants so lovingly call it, is about a ten-minute minibus ride from downtown Cape Town and a five-minute drive from campus. Its main drag is Lower Main Road, a street similar to State Street in Madison. Lower Main is lined with shops, restaurants, clubs, bars, and the most unusual and random assortment of people ever assembled on a city street. My house is a three-minute walk from Lower Main.
Lower Main Road
There are some truly great places on Lower Main, here are some of my favorites:
-Cocoa Cha Chi: the place of wifi, chocochino crushes (frozen chocolate/coffee drinks), iced americanos, chocolate cakes (mentioned in a previous post), and the occasional real meal.
-Obz Café: a great restaurant if you’ve got a couple spare hours and an empty stomach. Obz Café is the first restaurant I ate at when I moved into my house. You’ll be tended to by the charming Annie, who coincidently works at the next place on my list as well.
-Corner Bar: not sure if this is the real name of this place, but that’s what we all call it. Corner Bar is usually the last stop on the late night train, complete with a funky bartender, five for R15 samoosas, and only a short distance to stumble back home.
-Florentine: not only a great café for a delicious meal but has two for one drinks in the evenings.
-The house of 17 of my friends: yes, there is a house of 17 study abroad students on Lower Main. Many of them go to Wisconsin, and all 17 of them are awesome. Much time is spent in that mega house.
-Stones: a laid back pool hall that also serves as the spot on Wednesday nights for many Observatory residents as well as UCT students, given its two for one drink specials from 10:00-11:00pm. It occasionally plays good music, but not as often as it plays bad music.
I live conveniently close to the Main Road, where you can easily hail a minibus to take you to Cape Town or to the mall, or to any number of places beyond and in between. More often, though, the minibus drivers tend to hail you as you try to walk down the street. My house is also no more than a five-minute walk to the wonderful Jammie Bus stop. Jammie Buses are these big blue buses that comprise the UCT transportation system. They’re free for all UCT students. Jammies are convenient in that they’re free, they take you up the steep climb to upper campus, and drop you off close to home. They’re inconvenient in that you might wait five minutes or fifty minutes for one to come depending on your luck (not great if you have a class to get to), and they tend to be hot and packed. Riding a Jammie is definitely an experience, and it’s better to ride a Jammie to campus than to walk the two miles. I also live very close to the train station. The trains are reliable here, and you can take them into the city or away to Muizenberg or Kalk Bay (where the infamous Cape to Cuba restaurant is). You can even take the train to Stellenbosch.
Obs in general has a great vibe, and I’m really happy to be living here. There is an unfortunate amount of crime, and I would never consider walking home alone at night. There have been some truly unfortunate occurrences involving UCT students in Observatory this year already, including one death, and they remind us to be vigilant. All you can really do is be smart and not flaunt your valuables or vulnerability. Obs residents have been working hard to make the area safer, and there is a visible presence of security guards patrolling the streets. Still, you won’t find a house without a front gate and fence and bars on all the windows. I think the term ‘fortress-chic’ would be appropriate for Obs, since in addition to these metal gates, there are beautiful gardens in almost every front yard with vibrant colored flowers that somehow manage to make themselves visible to passersby. To the left is a picture of a flower in my own front yard. 
The view from just outside my front gate. Table Mountain.
There is no lack of nightlife in Observatory. Dozens of bars are in the area and each attracts its own following. Stones I’ve already mentioned, but here are some others:
-Scrumpy Jacks: the local sports bar where many a night people pack the place to watch soccer.
-Bananajams: a new bar with a nice beach like outdoor area, soon to be explored more in depth considering this past weekend was opening weekend.
-Tagores: a hole in the wall where every night local bands and performers play to an eclectic group of listeners. Upstairs is a mix of Aladdin and Alice and Wonderland, where if you get your timing right makes you feel like you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.
-Gandolf’s: yes, that is a LOTR reference. This little gem is where the alternative crowd gathers to mosh and cry and drink a little bit. For a really good time head next door to Mordor where you might, if you're lucky, make it out without being bit by someone who considers himself to be Dracula reincarnated. My friends and I stumbled upon this place late one night, much to our inebriated delight.
-Mojo: a bar that is on my list of places to go, but I have never been able to convince anyone to go with me. I pass it on my walk to Lower Main every night, and it sounds like a total party. Someday, I’ll go to Mojo and when I do I’ll let you know how it is.
A fifteen minutes walk from Observatory is the suburb of Woodstock, where every Saturday a truly amazing market is held at the Old Biscuit Mill warehouse. I first went to the market this past Saturday, and I’m making it my goal to attend as many as possible for the rest of my time here. Everything is local, fresh, and most of it is organic. You can easily do your week’s shopping at the market and you’ll be healthier for it. You can also eat at the many, absolutely delicious food stands. I had my first ostrich burger there, complete with caramelized onions and guacamole. Yum. I also had warthog, fresh honey, mozzarella, springbok, and the first true iced coffee I’ve encountered in South Africa. In addition to the food there are great clothing and goods markets. I bought a very pretty bracelet and was tempted to by dozens of various items of clothing and home goods. I restrained myself. I'll add pictures of the market next weekend, once my camera decides to stop running out of batteries at inconvenient times.
I’m sure there will be more to come about Obs in the future, given I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface on all that goes on in this neighborhood. As for now, the sun is finally down and it’s cool enough to go outside. Not much can get done when it’s in the 100’s for three days straight, except for when the sun sets!
-Sarah
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