Being one of the oldest cities in South Africa, as well as one of the most beautiful in the world, Cape Town (CPT/CT a.k.a. “Kaapstad” in Afrikaans language, or “the Cape” and South Africa’s “Mother City”) located on the southwest coast, is tucked into a broad bay, surrounded by white-sand beaches and home to several impressive mountainous backdrops.
It is the country’s legislative capital and you can learn more about the city, even on foot (weather permitting preferably), to get further insight and experience through visiting historical buildings and cultural icons such as the renaissance-style City Hall, Houses of Parliament, Bo-Kaap Museum, South African Jewish Museum, Gold of Africa Museum, St George’s Cathedral, the Slave Lodge in Adderley Street and many art galleries.
The city is also famously known for Table Mountain which has recently been named one of the world’s new seven wonders of nature, its winelands, and monuments.
Taking a ride to the top of Table Mountain in the modern cable car allows for a breath-taking bird’s eye view of the city, beaches as well as geographic lay of the land. Or a visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, part of the Cape Floral kingdom which is one of South Africa’s eight World Heritage sites, finds a 36 hectare garden featuring 7000 indigenous plants!
Wine tours most often include tastings (or not -for those who so choose) as well as the opportunity to purchase world famous wines at the very farms that produced them, together with many excellent restaurants, in regions such as Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek, where the famous Cape Dutch architecture still prominent on many working farms and houses, dates back or is reminiscent of the late 1600s and early 1700s in the style & age wherein many were mostly built.
Another “must-do” is the famous Peninsula Route exploring the length of Table Mountain National Park through to Cape Point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, via Simonstown, the Navy’s main port and quaint fishing village and Boulder’s Beach, home to a land-based breeding colony of the rare African Penguin.
The Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in the Cape Town Harbour is also a very popular destination, with its mega shopping complex, restaurants, coffee shops, cinemas and Two Oceans Aquarium. A short boat ride of approximately 30 minutes(one-way) to Robben Island, also finds the former prison-site where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held during the bygone apartheid era.
Clifton and Camps Bay are the most trendy and popular among sun & sea bathers, while Llandudno and Muizenberg are frequented by surfers, for their waves.
– Do note, for those who have not experienced it, the weather may sometimes change quite suddenly with a rainy day turning into a fresh sunny one within a few hours, and also vice versa.
