London, Paris, New York, Cape Town. They are all art filled, culturally rich cities. Cape Town manages to be African but compared to Durban or Jozi it is very European in feel. Chapman’s Peak Drive was built by the Italian prisoners of war and feels like the Amalfi Coast. The residents of Franschoek – French corner – celebrate Bastille Day.
Many residents have migrated here from up north for reasons as varied as the laid back lifestyle to the excellent weather. Cape Town enjoys an average of 10 hours of sunshine and 26’C in summer.
Table Mountain is to Cape Town what salt is to pepper. They go together. Early sailors came to see this landmark as a guide on their journeys around the Cape en route to the east.
Famous explorers Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama stopped in the bay at the foot of the mountain as early as 1488. But the name came from the Dutch who named it Tafelberg as the mountain has flat and square shape like a table. And when the mist rolls over the top of our mountain, we say she has a table cloth.
There is a legend about Van Hunks having a smoking contest with the devil to explain the “table cloth”. Locals use the mountain for direction and the mountain range runs along a peninsula to Cape Point where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.
Calm slowly returns to Green Point after a day of over 35 000 bicycles finishing up their race here. The Cape Argus Cycle tour hi-jacks our city one day every year. Thousands of riders in funny fluorescent outfits shut down our roads and cycle around the peninsula and back.
Even Lance Armstrong was here. They bring their families and friends and bicycles with them. A festive feeling pervades with flags and crowds, commentators, TV crews and loud music.
Tomorrow they start dismantling the gear and by the next day this visible mass of grandstands, marquees and banners and will all be gone.
Green Point lies in the lee of the famous mountain range that includes Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill.
This means that it is relatively protected from the infamous “Cape Doctor” which is a rather strong south-easterly wind. The “Cape Doctor” blows away pollution and gives Cape Town some of the cleanest air in the world.
But it also means that a day out on Camps Bay or Clifton’s beaches can leave you sandblasted. But while those beaches are being battered, the beaches from Granger Bay through to Sea Point can be pleasant as they are protected from the fierce winds.
A relative from up north is staying in Cape Town for the month of March. She is taking a gap year and is doing volunteer work. So while in Cape Town, she has been doing a bit of touring with other volunteers, most of whom are from abroad. She said that what stuck in her mind was how surprised visitors are when they see how big Cape Town is. Our statisticss are freely available at www.capetown.gov.za but the 2007 census showed Cape Town had 3,4 million people living in 2, 461 km2. And that same year we had 1,763,631 foreign visitors and 5,5 million local visitors.
