« SOUTH AFRICA • Discover South Africa • Cape Town
Discover Magical Cape Town
Cape Town has several notable cultural attractions. The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, built on top of part of the docks of the Port of Cape Town, is now one of the city's most popular shopping venues, with several hundred shops and the Two Oceans Aquarium. Part of the V&A's charm is that the Port continues to operate and visitors can watch ships enter and leave.
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» Diamond Works
Cape Town's Diamond Works offers a glimpse at South Africa's diamond mining industry through the eyes of a custom jewelry maker. Yes, Diamond Works is essentially a jewelry store, and you can certainly visit with the intention of buying some custom-made diamond jewelry. Even if you're not in the market for diamonds, however, a visit to Diamond Works is worth it to learn more about this fascinating industry. Diamond Works offers what it calls a 'Sparkling Tour,' during which you'll see diamond cutters and jewelry designers at work …
» District Six Museum
A former Cape Town neighborhood is remembered in the District Six Museum, built in the neighborhood itself. District Six was created in the 1860s, but by the mid-1960s the government began forcibly removing the non-white residents to a slum-like township miles away in order to make the neighborhood whites-only. In all, some 60,000 people were relocated, and their homes destroyed. Very little development was ever started in the area, however, and post-apartheid the government said they would recognize property rights of former residents …
» Duiker Island
Duiker Island is very small, sitting in Hout Bay, home to an abundant variety of wildlife. The island is sometimes known as Seal Island due to the large population of fur seals that is often found there, and the area is also home to sea birds. The island itself isn't even one acre, so visits are not usually very long. There are several daily cruises out to the island, however, so you can see the seals and birds up close - either from the boat or from the island. Hout Bay is also known for diving …
» Dyer Island
Dyer Island sits just off the coast of Gansbaai, a town in South Africa's Western Cape. The largest island off Gansbaai's coast, Dyer Island sits roughly five miles from shore. It was originally called Ilha de Fera, Portuguese for 'Island of Wild Creatures,' which makes sense given that the island is home to hundreds of African penguins. Another nearby island has thousands of resident Cape fur seals, and the channel between the two islands is known as 'Shark Alley' for the high numbers of great white sharks found there. As you might guess, the sharks like feeding on the seals …
» Franschhoek
One of the must-see stops on a tour of the Cape Winelands is the historic town of Franschhoek. The town sits just over 45 miles from Cape Town, and it's home to not only some of the area's best wineries but also one of the best restaurants in the world. Franschhoek is Dutch for 'French Corner,' which gives you a clue to the town's history. It was established in 1688 by French Huguenot refugees who had fled France to escape religious persecution …
» Garden Route
South Africa's terrain is varied and constantly surprising, offering diverse landscapes and scenery from one coast to the other. Along the southern coast is a particular area known for its lush vegetation by the name of the Garden Route, which begins in a town roughly five hours from Cape Town and can be an excellent multi-day road trip. The Garden Route runs from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to Storms River in the Eastern Cape, a distance of about 134 miles …
» Gold of Africa Museum
Much of South African history is built on gold mining, but at the Gold of Africa Museum in Cape Town the focus is not on the mining of gold but of the art of goldsmithing. Exhibits in the Gold of Africa Museum feature exquisitely wrought gold jewelry and art pieces made in West Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes pieces from Senegal, Mali, and the Cote d'Ivoire, with a gold lion from Ghana serving as the museum's symbol. There are temporary exhibits, too, which highlight the art of goldsmithing from other parts of the world …
» Greenmarket Square
Greenmarket Square in Cape Town's city center is an historic square which has served many purposes over the years. The square was built in 1696 in front of a burgher watch house. Today, the square is overlooked by the Old Town House, built on the site of the burgher house in 1761, which once served as the city hall. In different years, the square has been home to a slave market, a produce market, and even a parking lot. Today, Greenmarket Square is the setting for a popular craft and flea market, including a wide variety of African art, clothing, music, and jewelry …
» Groot Constantia
South Africa is increasingly well-known for its wines, with the wine country near Cape Town being a particularly popular stop with oenophiles and foodies alike. One highlight of any wine tasting trip near Cape Town is to the oldest wine estate in South Africa at Groot Constantia. The property in Constantia was given to Simon van der Stel in 1685 by the Dutch East India Company, which had an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope …
» Heart of Cape Town Museum
Modern medical advances are remarkable things - so much so that there is a museum in Cape Town at the site of the first human heart transplant, Groote Schuur Hospital. The Heart of Cape Town Museum is in the still-working hospital, in the actual rooms where that heart transplant took place in December 1967. Exhibits in the museum including features on the man who received the heart transplant, the woman whose heart was donated, and the doctor who performed the historic surgery. The guided tour of the museum lasts about two hours …
» Hermanus
The town of Hermanus is a popular seaside retreat for Cape Town residents and world-famous for its spectacular whale-watching. In the winter and spring, southern right whales spend quite a bit of time in the area off the coast of Hermanus, during mating and calving season. There's an annual Whale Festival in September to mark the beginning of the whale-watching season, and the town employs a Whale Crier - his job is to watch for whales and blow a kelp horn when whales are spotted. There are whale-watching boat trips from Hermanus, but it can actually be quite easy to see whales without leaving shore …
» Hout Bay
This quaint harbor on the western side of the Cape Peninsula has a seaside charm that attracts both travelers and locals to its sheltered shores. Whether it's sampling ocean-fresh seafood from one of the restaurants lining its harbor or exploring the shelves of world-class antique shops, Hout Bay has proved itself a worthy destination despite its small size. Visitors love wandering along the bustling docks where commercial fishing boats unload their daily catch …
» Khayelitsha Township
Khayelitsha is thought to be not only the largest township in South Africa but also the fastest-growing. It was established in 1985 as part of a 1950 law assigning difference racial groups to different residential areas, when black residents were forcibly moved to the new township, sometimes violently. Today, Khayelitsha has a population of more than 390,000 people. Living conditions in the township have improved a great deal since the fall of apartheid, but even as recently as 2001 most of the residents still lived in shacks and did not have easy access to fresh water …
» Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens
The Kirstenbosh National Botanical Gardens, established in 1913 to protect indigenous flora, was the first gardens of its kind in the world. It covers five of the six of South Africa's unique biomes; many of these are found inside an indoor greenhouse. The Kirstenboash gardens are also home to various exhibitions of sculpture ranging from Zimbabwean stone sculptures to the world-famous bronze animals of Dylan Lewis …
» Langa Township
Settled in the mid-1920s as a designated area for black Africans, Langa Township is Cape Town's oldest and largest township. This lively community, which was established pre-apartheid, is steeped in history of the Xhosa people. Even its name pays homage to a famous tribe member who rebelled against the government in the late 1800s and was later imprisoned at Robben Island. Visitors can tour the community with local Xhosa guides and explore the streets of Joe Slovo …
» Noon Gun
The Noon Gun, as you might guess from the name, is a signal gun fired every day at noon in Cape Town. The gun is perched atop Signal Hill, not far from the city center, and it has been marking the time since 1806. The two cannons (one is a back-up) on the hill date from the late 18th century, brought on a British ship and once used in warfare. The firing of the gun at noon was meant to give ships in the harbor a chance to synchronize their chronometers. Even after the gun was no longer needed to establish chronometer accuracy …
« SOUTH AFRICA • Discover South Africa • Cape Town
