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If ever there was a city which has it all, Cape Town is it. South Africa's ‘Mother City’ is indescribably beautiful, steeped in fascinating history & pulsating to a heady African rhythm.
If ever there was a city which has it all, Cape Town is it. South Africa's ‘Mother City’ is indescribably beautiful, steeped in fascinating history & pulsating to a heady African rhythm.
In the city centre you'll find sleek sky scrapers rubbing shoulders with centuries- old Dutch, Cape Malay & British architecture, while flower sellers & buskers vie for attention in the pedestrian malls, below the world famous Table Mountain which majestically envelopes the city. Saunter up Adderly Street & you'll find yourself at the Houses of Parliament: up in the visitors' gallery you'll observe the goings-on of the Rainbow Nation’s MPs, many of whom did not even have the right to vote just eleven years ago.
A short walk away is the enchanting Greenmarket Square, an open-air cobblestoned market, selling everything from carved African masks to high fashion clothing. Find a bench & relax in the six-hectare Company Gardens. Originally Van Riebeeck's vegetable garden, back in the 17th Century, it has been landscaped as a reminder of a time when the city was a stopping place for traders & voyagers en route to the Far East.
In the Malay Quarter, where rows of charming pastel buildings sprawl along the slopes of another landmark, Signal Hill, the Bo-Kaap Museum tells the story of the Malays, who were brought as slaves from Sri Lanka, the Indonesian islands & India. The apartheid government may have infamously moved 60 000 Cape Coloureds from their District Six homes before sending in the bulldozers four decades ago, but this is a community not easily squashed - to this day The Cape Minstrels strut through the streets of Cape Town strumming banjoes in a joyous New Year festival which is uniquely Cape Town.
History boffins will get their fill at the Castle of Good Hope, a pentagonal fortification complete with moat & bastions, built to defend the Dutch settlement, while thrill seeking escapists can visit an impressive replica at the recently opened world-class GrandWest Casino and Entertainment Complex. Pop along to the Ratanga Junction Theme Park for fun, fantasy & adventure entertainment, themed restaurants & variety shows. Shopaholics are extremely well catered for in this city, most notably at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, South Africa's number one tourist attraction. There are an abundance of shops, from designer boutiques to food market stalls; two large craft markets, the amazing Two Oceans Aquarium, the Imax Cinema with its gigantic screen & dozens of restaurants. If it's wildlife of a different sort that you're after, take a hike up Table Mountain - or catch the cable-car & meet the mountain's famous dassies (rock rabbits).
Take a ferry out to Robben Island & get acquainted with not only the tiny cell which Nelson Mandela called home for almost two decades.
Better still, head out to Hermanus for a spot of unrivalled whale watching. Adrenaline junkies can come face to face with a Great White shark or two, in a never-to-be-forgotten cage diving experience. Of course, most people will be content to lap up the Cape's natural BEAUTY like its beaches. Take your pick from Clifton, Camps Bay, Llandudno,
Bloubergstrand and Noordhoek; all boasting pristine white sand and gorgeous vistas.
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