Cape Town

This is pretty much where it all began.

It is a more stately and cultured place than its younger, more northerly offspring. As befits its stature as an older place it has many fine colonial buildings and gardens. As a flourishing port it has been and continues to be, a wealthy place. The flip side of this is the spectacularly bad poverty that can be seen in the surrounding townships.

It has been at the centre of South Africa's history from the early Dutch settlement and the birth of Afrikaans to the imprisonment of Mr Mandela just a few miles off the coast on Robben Island.

The wild and windy Cape of Good Hope nature reserve contrasts with some great sandy beaches. The people are, as in the rest of the country, a real mixture. The whites from British, Dutch and other European stock, indigenous black races and descendants of slaves and indentured labour imported from all over Asia can all be seen on the Cape Peninsula. The centrepiece and enduring image of the city is now, as it has always been, the massive bulk of Table Mountain. A stunning natural feature that dominates the city.

Where to Go and What to See

Houses of Parliament

Built in 1884 this brick building houses the legislative arm of the government. This gives the city a fair claim as the countries capital. If you visit in the afternoon the public galleries are open and you can witness the country as it continues to find its feet as a democracy. Next door is one of the old Dutch East India company buildings now used by the state president.

Feeling Crazy?

Cape Town offers a number of activities for those travellers whose sanity has already set sail. Two Oceans Aquarium, an excellent place with samples of sea life from both the oceans that surround the Cape, also offers qualified divers the chance to swim with sharks. Five sharks!! If this sounds too tame then try canyoning in one of the numerous river gorges in the area. Canyoning? For children and men called Quentin? Then try abseiling or mountain climbing on Table Mountain or one of the loftier peaks in the area. If you think all that is for your Grandmother then South Africa is a cheap place to learn parachuting. A jump over Table Mountain/Table Bay will stay in your memory forever. Parachuting would be memorable too.

District Six Museum

One of the most significant museums in the city; this is devoted to the families who were edged out of the district beginning in 1966 when it became designated as a white only area. Formerly it had been a poor but lively community comprising all races, living raucously together. The museum gives the visitor an insight into the callous nature of apartheid through maps, documents, photographs and heartbreaking personal testimony. Other museums worth a look include the Cultural History Museum and the South African Museum. The latter museum is the oldest in the country and has many varied exhibits from San rock art to whale skeletons and replica dinosaurs.

Table Mountain

This is such an iconic feature it simply has to be done. The views from the top are stupendous out over the city and the ocean. To reach the top take a cable car or, for the fit and adventurous, you could walk. There are a number of routes to the top, just over 1000m up, some more taxing than others. OK, that's the official tourist bit done. Now for some personal input. I don't believe Table Mountain even exists. I think it is merely a freak of nature that causes cloud to gather in that one spot for days on end, often for the whole duration of the visit of those who have been particularly looking forward to enjoying the magnificent vistas to be observed from its allegedly flat top. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Before embarking on a trip up it is worth checking the weather forecast.

Art Things

Check out the Michealis Collection for traditional European type art including Dutch Masters. A broader spectrum of the art world can be seen at the South African National Gallery. Here there is traditional art alongside township and tribal art plus ever changing exhibitions of all sorts. The Irma Stern Museum celebrates the life of one of the countries best known painters. There is a small selection of her work plus a number of pieces that she collected during her travels outside South Africa.

Cape Dutch Architecture

Functional, graceful and simple sum up this uniquely South African building style. Samples of can be found all over the Cape Peninsula but in Cape Town itself the best example is the Koopmans De Wet House, built in 1701.

Stellenbosch

This town lies a short drive to the east of Cape Town and is the heart of the wine country. Wine was one of the first crops successfully cultivated following the arrival of the Dutch. Wine produced here still enjoys an international reputation. Stellenbosch is one of the oldest towns in the country and it maintains much of its former character. Take some time to check out the Cape Dutch architecture and perhaps go on the wine tour of local vineyards. Go on the bus trip.

Robben Island

Infamous the world over as the place where Mandela was held from 1962 until release in 1990. The island has long seen use as a prison; particularly it has been a place where political dissidents were held. Now a UN World Heritage site this is a popular and crowded attraction. Don't be put off. It is an inspiring place with much to teach us today and is of massive cultural significance to the new South Africa.

Food, Drink and a Place to Sleep

South Africa has a cuisine that reflects its multi cultural past. The classic 'white' dishes or delicacies are the braai (a barbecue), traditionally including boerewors, steaks and seafood and biltong (delicious and chewy dry cured meat). Traditional African food reads like a health food diet. Mostly grilled meats that are low in fat - chicken and goat - cereals, fruits and vegetables, little salt or sugar. The recipe for a long life?? Portuguese sailors introduced Prawn Peri Peri (volcanically hot) whilst the Indonesians and Malayans introduced such choice morsels as Sosaties and Pickled fish.

The two great South African beverages are beer and wine. Good examples of either are easy to find at very reasonable prices. In Cape Town the best place to go dining and drinking is the rejuvenated Waterfront, this is a real entertainment hotspot in the city. For more restaurants head for Long Street or the City Bowl. The city offers a cornucopia of restaurants from all over the globe and as the tourists have begun to arrive, the quality has improved. There are hundreds of bars all across the city but there are not many where the races mix freely, so be careful. Accommodation is available to suit all budgets.