Cape Town is a multicultural place. The Thai Buddhist Meditation Centre seen in the picture can be found corner High Level and Glengariff Roads.
Muslims believe Cape Town fits into a holy triangle. There are a series of Kramats where saints are buried. These are the located on the borders of this triangle. Two of the Kramats can be found just off Signal Hill Road.
In Woodstock is a Greek Orthodox Church. And the beautiful St Georges Cathedral is near The Company Gardens. It has become synonymous with it’s defiance during the dark years in South Africa.
The Company Gardens were set up to provide provisions for the ships that passed through Cape Town. There are plenty museums to explore in the gardens and the cutest squirrels dash about.
Go to – My Holidays and Trips – at the top of this page to read about other places we have visited. Or just click on – this link.
Most cities have the same old tours. We have them here too. Scary ghost tours? Tick. Walking tours? Tick. City underground tours? Tick. Open top red bus tours? Tick. Go to this site City Sightseeing for more on the red open top buses.
The two main Tourist Information offices in Cape Town are at The Clocktower Gallery at the V and A Waterfront and the other is located corner Burg and Strand Streets in Cape Town city centre. There you will find all manner of brochures for tours and excursions.
But how about something completely different. A side-car tour maybe? You can find them in Glengariff Road in Sea Point. And no trip is complete without a township tour. Check out Nomvuyos website here – Nomvuyos Tours. Start practising your clicks and clucks so you can impress locals with some Xhosa words.
Easter weekend is almost over. South Africa is a Christian country so we just had a whole lot of public holidays this weekend. We’ve also just had the International Jazz Festival.
Ronnie Jordan, George Benson, Bilal and Jeff Lorber were some of the foreign acts here. Judith Sepuma and Vusi Mahlasela were two of the local acts. Missed Jimmy Dludlu’s name on the line up. The man is amazing, watch him on You Tube. It’s fair to say that Africans love jazz.
And we had the Two Oceans Marathon yesterday. Aptly named the most beautiful marathon. Actually it’s a half marathon and an ultra marathon as the full distance is 56 kilometres. It’s also one of the qualifier races for the Comrades Marathon which is is on 30th May. I consider Comrades an extra ultra marathon since it is 89 kilometres or 56 miles. It is considered the world’s most gruelling endurance race. The sort of race I prefer to watch in awe but not participate in.
Picture courtesy of Jemma Fletcher
Robbe are seals in Afrikaans. So Robben Island is named after the seals. It was a place to keep prisoners right back to when the first European explorers arrived. Rogue sailors were left there. It was also a leper colony back then.
The most famous modern prisoner on Robben Island was Nelson Mandela. Many tourists do the guided tour of the prison cells and the ferry is often fully booked for days. Many locals prefer not to be reminded of that part of our past.
Robben Island has no water and it never rains there. All water is brought in. In the picture is a seal on the jetty at the V and A Waterfront.
Since we live in the southern hemisphere our seasons are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere. That means the 2010 Soccer World Cup is going to happen right in the middle of our winter.
South Africa has vastly different climates from one region to the next. The Kwa Zulu Natal coast is decidedly humid and tropical yet about 50 kilometers inland it is reminiscent of the Alps.
Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate hence the wine farms. However our winters are wet. I love the BBC weather page for information. They give average rainfall for June and July as 9 – 10 days a month. The average daily temperatures are between 7 – 18’C. Make sure you pack a raincoat and some warm clothes. Unless you are from a part of the world where 18’C is warm.
