I guess when a person is travelling, what they most want to experience is the essence of a place. To my mind that includes the people, language, food, architecture, history, landscape, fauna and flora.

In the picture is what I consider the ugliest building in Cape Town. It’s called the Good Hope Centre. It looks as if someone tried to copy the Sydney Opera House.
Why they would want to do that when we have such beautiful Cape Dutch architecture to draw from I will not know. But then, back in the day, the Sydney Opera House went down like a lead balloon. As did the glass pyramid addition to The Louvre.

Cape Dutch architecture is unique to the Cape. South Africa has some fine British style architecture from various periods, as would be expected of a colony. Herbert Baker stamped his mark here. And then there are the traditional huts. They vary in style from region to region. Mud, grass, painted, not painted, rounded, square, and so on. The style is usually an indicator of the people living in the region. I got bitten by a tick sleeping in a Swazi hut some time back but they are cute and cozy.  Informal shacks can also be seen in and around Cape Town. Many of the residents have permanent homes back in the Eastern Cape and make temporary homes as there is more work in the Western Cape. Look out for them coming in from the airport.

And then for some reason South Africans have gone berserk for Tuscan style homes. Less so in the Cape but huge in Jozi. Whole faux Tuscan villages exist. A bit overly themed for my liking but hey, some people love it.