South Africa (8) - Finally.....beautiful Cape Town!

Cape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg and the largest city in the Western Cape. Here are a few facts about Cape Town: the British seized Cape Town from the Dutch in 1795. In 1803 it was returned to the Netherlands and, by 1806, was back in the hands of the British. It is the city in which the first human heart transplant was performed by Dr Barnard in 1967. It is also in Cape Town that Nelson Mandela made his first public speech after his release from Robben Island.

Unlike in Johannesburg, we felt very comfortable strolling through the city and enjoyed the opportunity to get very close to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most south-western point of the African continent. The first European to reach the Cape was Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. He named it "Cape of storms". It was later renamed "Cape of Good Hope" by King  John II of Portugal because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East.

We also had a chance to say hi to African penguins (also called Jackass penguins) that look quite similar to the South American Magellanic penguins we had seen previously.

Obama Pizza?? 😎

 These benches were left in front of the High Court from the Apartheid era

We took several walking tours of the city, including one of District 6. District 6 has quite a sad history. During Apartheid, 60,000 black people were forcibly removed from this district and relocated to townships in the outskirts of Cape Town. The houses of these people were destroyed. The only piece of property not destroyed was the church. The evicted black people  kept coming back to this church. The valuable land of District 6 was supposed to be sold at high price and used to rebuild new houses, but no one offered to buy the land fearing that it would bring bad luck. The town finally built a university in this neighborhood.

This is a quote from the evicted people of District 6 

We then visited the Malay muslim neighborhood Bo-kaap. Malay people migrated in this neighborhood in the 19th century. Although known as a dangerous place at night, we really enjoyed the peacefulness of this area during the day. The streets with colorful houses were fun to explore.

We visited the Kirtenboch botanical garden, a garden created in 1913 to preserve the country's unique flora.

Vineyards are established less than 1/2 hour outside of Cape Town and the wine made in Cape Town is now exported all over the world.

Visit of the Groot Constantia winery

The township where nothing grows

More of Cape Town

Boulders Beach with its protected colony of African penguins

 that can be observed in their natural habitat

The Cape of Good Hope

Food for thoughts

"I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 

and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing 

that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced 

in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid

                                           Desmond Tutu