We have been here for a few days now and have toured a lot of the sights outside Cape Town so it was time to finally head into the heart of the beast. And what a beast it is! A population of over 3.5 million and you feel the crush as soon as you get close to the downtown core with all the vehicle traffic crawling along. Or when you finally get out of your car and become part of the heaving masses slowly moving past modern skyscrapers, beautifully restored historic buildings or through crammed market stalls. All the time hearing the cacophony of the many languages being spoken by the locals. South Africa has eleven official languages (try getting all that on a cereal box) and Cape Town has three (Afrikaans spoken by most whites and coloureds, Xhosa spoken by most blacks and English used as the communication language between everyone). We parked our car in the heart of downtown and started walking around. Cape Town's main attractions and historic neighborhoods are all within walking distance, except for the waterfront. We will let the pictures tell the story.
Cape Town's Edwardian styled City Hall was completed in 1905 and built from stone quarried in Bath, England. It's located on the Grand Parade and many major gatherings take place here. Today they are putting together tents that will be used to sign the books of condolences for Nelson Mandela
The moat and outer walls of the Castle of Good Hope. It's really a fort which took 13 years to construct and finally completed in 1679. It has just gone through a major 10 year restoration and brought back to it's British regency style introduced in 1798. The exterior pentagonal architecture is 17th century European fortification style. The Castle used to have a sea entrance but that has long gone due to land reclamation when the harbour was dramatically expanded during the second world war.
The inner courtyard of the castle with the Governors mansion built in 1695 with its ornate entrance and balcony where proclamations and announcements were made to the soldiers, slaves and civilians at the Cape. All judicial sentences were also read here and official visitors welcomed to the castle.
The Muslim district of Cape Town, called Bo-Kaap, is one of Cape Town's oldest neighborhoods filled with wonderful 19th century Dutch and Georgian style terraced houses painted in bright colors.
A colorfully painted Mosque on the border of Bo-Kaap and De Waterkant neighborhoods
Some colorful buildings in the De Waterkant neighborhood, which is a tiny enclave that has evolved into a chi-chi shopping area with swanky restaurants and bars that attracts international gay visitors
The reconstructed Dolphin pool and fountain was originally built in the 1790's and is situated behind the Governors House
It was wonderful to walk the many streets of Bo-Kaap to see all the colored houses and restaurants. It is obvious that the residents take great pride in their historic neighborhood
View of the V&A Waterfront with Table Mountain in the background. V&A is one of the most successful working/tourist waterfronts in the world, attracting over 20 million visitors a year
V&A Waterfronts version of the Granville Island put-puts taking visitors through one of several canals within the waterfront area
A sign at the V&A Waterfront with km distances from Cape Town to major cities around the world. Vancouver is 16,912km from Cape Town
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