To immerse ourselves in the history and Kulcha of Kapetown, we joined a Walking tour through the centre
It went from the trendy / arty Bo-Kaap area down to the City Hall.
B-K was originally settled by East Cape Malays, ie slaves transported by those evil Dutch traders from the East Indies. It is multi-cultural now but still heavily Muslim, and supported by a lot of arts grants. It also serves very good curry.
Tour finished at the City Hall and its museum of the apartheid struggle –
I’m painfully aware we barely scratched the surface of the social frameworks, history and tensions here. The trouble is that tourists are constantly reminded of the risks of moving outside ‘safe’ areas – which can often just mean ‘into an adjoining block’. As we exited the Fort ( see below) we were quickly warned against continuing in that direction , since muggers were operating about 100 yards away , in broad daylight.
Fort Of Good Hope
This was an odd and rather dispiriting place. I quite like the fact it was pentagonal, and painted yellow. Otherwise…a bit dull.
The other strong initial impressions of Capetown are
- Crazily strong winds. It’s all anyone talks to us about – 30-40mph much of the day , which persisted through all our time here. Oddly, it doesn’t even seem to be coming off the Atlantic.
- Traffic congestion. Every morning when we have driven in to the centre it has taken nearly 3 times as long as on a clear road
- The waterfront area is impressive but also generic : a paean to shopping, supping, and sailing trips, where those serving you are still depressingly single race . Although, the clientele does include some darker faces too. I guess that’s something.
However …
Oddly enough, this was the one thing we did NOT see in Capetown .. why not ??