Cape Town

The centre of Cape Town is constrained by Table Mountain to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the North. Our hostel, Inn Long Street, was towards the southern (read party) end of Long Street. The plan was to get our barrings, but not really do that much for a couple of days. Unfortunately Long Street never sleeps, and given that our room faced the street, neither did we.
















Sleep deprived, we wandered the length of the street up to the Victoria and Alfred waterfront – the tourist heart of Cape Town. Given that it was a beautiful clear day (these become more of a rarity as winter approaches), we booked on a ubiquitous sunset tour of the harbour before plunging into the mall.
















The man who sold me the tickets for the catamaran assured me that the sparking wine would be free flowing and not limited to one glass – and he was true to his word. The water does afford great views back to the mountain towering over the city, and of the new stadium being built for the 2010 world cup, right on the waterfront – this must ruin the views of the houses on the hill behind, unless they prefer the view of the back of a football stadium to the Atlantic Ocean. Of course this being May on the south Atlantic, things turned a little chilly. Fortunately the crew were quick to hand out large red blankets, but this did interfere with the wine drinking.
















We'd not wanted a big night, but popped into Jo'burg (a bar on Long St) for a night cap. There I discussed nose shapes with a Nigerian drug dealer, before being forced to down half-a-dozen Jägerbombs (Jägermeister shots dropped into Red Bull) by an English bloke (Barry) who worked on an oil survey ship. The next morning was a write-off, and all I could manage to do was go downstairs and hand over 300 rand so we didn't have to leave the room.

By mid-afternoon we'd gotten into a taxi to the Table Mountain cable-car station. This shoots almost vertically to the top station at 1066m, whilst rotating its floor to give you a full 360° view. Once on top the cool clear air did wonders for our heads. From the front (city) side you get the view of the city down to the V&A waterfront, and then Robben Island sat out in the bay (looking a lot smaller than it actually is); while from the back side you get the more impressive view along the spine of the peninsular down to the Cape of Good Hope some 20 miles south. It was fortunate we went up when we did, because it was the last time we saw the mountain for several days.
















With winter starting to kick in, and slightly delirious from lack of sleep, we took the 30 minute ferry to Robben Island. A thick sea fog reduced the visibility to less than 10m, making the island quite eerie as it appeared from nowhere. Robben Island's role in the history of apartheid South Africa is well known – the way the tour is structured (given visitor numbers there's not much choice) is to heard people onto coaches to cover the wider history of the island; a leper colony, a second world war fort, a normal prison, then finally a dumping ground for increasing numbers of political prisoners. The island contains three lime quarries, where prisoners worked hard labour before its abolition under international pressure in 1981. The island now has 100 permanent residence (family of people who manage the island), around 5000 African penguins, and possibility a million rabbits.
















For the second half of the tour, you are handed over to a former political prisoner – in our case Sparky, arrested in 1980 on terrorism charged for recruiting for the armed wing of the ANC - for a tour of the prison block. He showed us his room, shared with 59 others, and the excise yard where messages would be battered between the wings inside tennis balls. The tour ends by passing Nelson Mandala's 2m by 2m cell – his home for 18 years before being transferred to Pollsmoor prison for the remaining 4 years of his 27 year incarceration.
















After four days without sleep, we got our act together and moved to the much quieter Green Point – this boarders the V&A water front, upmarket Sea Point and the Marylebone like 'gay village' of De Waterkant.