Cape Town History

Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2009

I was fascinated with Cape Town and the cultural mix which was influenced by the Dutch, British and the French. Being an artist, I was also impressed with the amount of artist enclaves and performers of every type. I came to Cape Town on business, but when I saw how much culture this place offers. A huge selection of museums and cultural events happening everyday. I asked the Boutique Hotel Cape Town concierges if they could guide me where to go since I had little time in-between my business meetings.

They recommended I consider a tour of the township, a ferry trip to Robben Island or a wander through the district six Museum. If that didn’t interest me, they suggested I check out Malay Quarter, also know as Bo-Kapp which is located on the lower slopes of Signal Hill. They said I would enjoy the maze of narrow alleys and the densely clustered flat-roofed houses. It’s home to a large Islamic community. That didn’t appeal to me, so the concierges mentioned the Company Gardens. Just the name alone intrigued me; located at the upper end of Adderley street lined with huge old oak trees. The Company Garden has shady paths, green lawns and lily ponds. They told me a visit there will only be a few hours. That was perfect.

I asked them to suggest one more site that would only take me a few hours to tour and they recommended The Castle. The oldest European structure in South Africa. Now, that did seem like something I would like to see. The ‘Castle of Good Hope’ , but called the ‘Castle’ by the locals was actually a defensive fort. Constructed barely began 2 days after the arrival of the Dutch settlers. It was originally built on the beach, but due to reclamation of land, the castle is far from the sea. Just the reclamation of land from the sea sounds impressive enough to visit too. If only I had enough time for that too, but unfortunately, I’m really only here on business. I will have to try and find vacation time to come back to this magnificent city.