Or why Cape Town is fashionable
Its orography is a gift, it makes it the Brad Pitt, Gisele Bundchen of cities. not only hug the sea, land and mountains spectacularly; also to the cultures that have been settling here: it embraces the past and the present.
Cape Town is like San Francisco or Istanbul, a city with a special physique. In addition, it has touches of Miami, New Orleans and Amsterdam. There are few insubstantial corners in it: its history is dense . And above all (sometimes literally above all) this city has views.
'Rooftop dining', what, do you see yourself here?
Claim that from your Cape Town hotel room you can see Table Mountain , the pretty girl of the city's attractions, is nothing to write home about. EITHER Lion's Gate . Or the waterfront . Or even Robben Island , the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned. The extraordinary thing is to find a room from which you can see everything. We have found it. It's in the The Silo Hotel and some days we go back to look at the photos to pinch ourselves and confirm that yes, we were there.
Imagine falling asleep with these views
Silo It is a hotel that opened in April with enormous expectation. It was one of the most important openings of the year, not only because of its ambition, but also because it consolidates Cape Town as a relevant destination worldwide.
It is located in what was the grain elevator of a historic silo built in the 1920s and which, until 2001, was in operation. The building, industrial, powerful, raw, it's on the waterfront , that place full of restaurants, shops, hotels and museums where everyone who visits Cape Town passes by; is one of the great attractions of Africa and receives more than 24 million people a year . The Silo occupies the top six floors of the building. The lower part will go to the **Zeitz Museum Of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA)**, a museum that hopes to be another world reference and which opens in September. They don't mess around here.
The Silo has 28 rooms . It is a small hotel and, at the same time, a great hotel. Its most characteristic feature are the windows. These huge spans (5.5 meters) have been designed, like the entire project, by London-based Heatherwick Studio . Its appearance of inflated cushions gives it an extraterrestrial air that contrasts with the roughness of the original building.
The windows give photos to those who are inside the hotel and those who are outside . They go from floor to ceiling and guarantee tremendous views. The rooms of the corner of floors 8 and 9 they have the best in a place that does not have even a mediocre panorama. We will choose the Deluxe Superior 9th Floor Suite , that is why the higher we are, the more possession of a place we take.
This room exceeds 60 meters . It has no curtains: it would be heresy. The windows occupy almost all the walls and allow a 270 degree view from which you can see: the port, the mountains (Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Signal Hill) the V&A Waterfront. Virtually everything there is to see in the city can be seen from this room. If we only had one day to be here and we dedicated ourselves to looking out the window we would have an idea of what Cape Town is like.
This room has been decorated by Liz Biden, owner of the Royal Portfolio, seal under which it is ascribed Silo . She has drawn on contemporary African artists such as Mohau Modisakeng or Cyrus Kabiru. Also local artisans and design classics. The result is eclectic and colorful. Maybe a little noisy visually.
Perhaps a bit of visual noise for a room that offers it all OUT
The true decoration of the room is what is seen through it. In fact, he can be blamed for the interior is somewhat overdesigned because it misleads what is on the other side of the glass. You don't need as much inside. has it all out . In any case, the room overwhelms. He has plenty, like the city, photogenic. Even the most savvy traveler sighs when he sees the bathroom, with his bathtub by the window.
Deluxe Superior Bathroom by The Silo
If we stay in any of the rooms of The Silo we can access the Sky Terrace, only for guests. You have to go up during sunset, which never fails. And here less. A dip in the pool with views of Table Mountain , that flat mountain, will be another memory that we will keep, neatly folded, in the suitcase.
The terrace pool: the graphic definition of Pool With Views
This suite of 9th floor of The Silo it is a privilege, but the hotel was born wanting to be part of the city. The Granary Cafe, The Willaston Bar (oh, the armchairs) and the Rooftop Restaurant (oh, what do you see), they are open to all.
Locals come here, but also the international traveling community and hotel junkies . Its views are not detractable either. In fact, they are almost as good as the ones in the best rooms and the ones in the penthouse, which has 360 degrees of the city ahead of it. This we will deny having said.