The stunning landscape is the thing that first strikes you when gazing out of the plane window on your descent into Cape Town. The ramshackle townships are the last thing you see before the aircraft touches ground.

I could say Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited, as long as I forget about the barbed-wire, poverty, and lingering racism. Post-apartheid South Africa is healing, no doubt, but its scars are still visible. 

We spent ten days exploring the city, hiking mountains, eating world-class food, drinking affordable delicious wines, and saying hello to penguins.

The more I think about it, It had just about everything I loved in the world, except social equality and safety. It's both literally and figuratively the polar opposite of Scandinavia in that sense.