March 5
March 5
We had a leisurely morning and slept in a bit. We went down and had breakfast and then sat on the balcony for the rest of the morning. At noon we decided to head down to the Waterfront and catch the Hop-On Hop-Off bus and go back to some of the places we had visited briefly yesterday. The bus started with a general tour of the centre of Cape Town and Long Street. Long Street is apparently the place to be for some Cape Town night life (it’s too bad we’re usually ready to quit for the day just when the Cape Town night life gets going). Downtown Cape town is beautiful with nicely landscaped streets and old heritage buildings amongst the newer high rises. While traveling along Long Street we saw the Green Market Square and a restaurant called Mama Africa, both of which were recommended to us as places we should go. We made a mental note of where each was and a plan to return.
Our first hop off was at the Imizamo Yethu Township for a guided walk through the village. During Apartheid, the White minority government had the black and coloured (Asian, Indian, etc.) people forcibly removed from the cities and relocated to “black only” areas, or Townships in order to establish “white only” cities. Cape Town was one of these cities. As recently as 1970 under Apartheid Law the blacks were denied their citizenships as South African. Education, medical care, etc. was segregated and blacks received much lower standard services than whites. They were forced to live in the townships with no facilities, no running water, etc. The official end of Apartheid was in 1994 with the first multi-racial election. Not surprisingly, the election was won by the African National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Nelson Mandela (in 1962 Mandela was arrested and convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released after 27 years after an international campaign lobbying for his release). The scars of Apartheid and white supremacist rule are still evident throughout South Africa, particularly in the Townships. Segregation is still a fact of life. Although steps are being made to improve the living conditions in the townships, by North American standards they are not that far above living in squalor. Communal toilets have been introduced and a move has been made towards replacing many of the corrugated metal “sheds” with concrete houses (in the attached photo the new houses are on the left side of the road while the old “sheds” are on the right). While we were on our walking tour we stopped off at the local church. The Township boys were playing and rough-housing on the steps while inside the girls were taking part in traditional dance lessons. We stayed for quite a while as the dance instructor and a lone drummer put the girls through their exercises. Quite a treat to watch!
After our visit to the Township we hopped back on the bus and hopped off at Hout Bay. We walked along the wharf to look at all the boats and a few trader booths that were still up (everything was closed down for the day). As there was little left to do or see there, we hopped back on the bus and made one last hop off at Camps Bay. Richard, our tour guide the day before had recommended a restaurant called “The Cod Father” for the best fish and chips in Cape Town. We had to try it out! It was tucked away on a little side street and the entrance was just a tiny doorway leading to a narrow set of stairs which led up to the restaurant itself. It is full of fresh seafood of all kinds. There is no menu as you make your own meal and then pay for it by weight. Julie ordered a nice piece of Kingklip and I had fresh Calamari and one gigantic prawn. The prawn weighed in at 200 grms. and cost R150.00 (about $16.00)! It was definitely a very good meal!
We debated whether or not to catch the last hop-on hop-off bus for the evening. Richard had also suggested that Camps Bay Beach was the best place to catch the sunset. If we were to catch the last bus, we would miss the sunset. So we decided to stay behind and experience the South African sun as it set over the ocean. It was everything Richard made it out to be and we were glad to have missed the bus . . .
We had a leisurely morning and slept in a bit. We went down and had breakfast and then sat on the balcony for the rest of the morning. At noon we decided to head down to the Waterfront and catch the Hop-On Hop-Off bus and go back to some of the places we had visited briefly yesterday. The bus started with a general tour of the centre of Cape Town and Long Street. Long Street is apparently the place to be for some Cape Town night life (it’s too bad we’re usually ready to quit for the day just when the Cape Town night life gets going). Downtown Cape town is beautiful with nicely landscaped streets and old heritage buildings amongst the newer high rises. While traveling along Long Street we saw the Green Market Square and a restaurant called Mama Africa, both of which were recommended to us as places we should go. We made a mental note of where each was and a plan to return.
Our first hop off was at the Imizamo Yethu Township for a guided walk through the village. During Apartheid, the White minority government had the black and coloured (Asian, Indian, etc.) people forcibly removed from the cities and relocated to “black only” areas, or Townships in order to establish “white only” cities. Cape Town was one of these cities. As recently as 1970 under Apartheid Law the blacks were denied their citizenships as South African. Education, medical care, etc. was segregated and blacks received much lower standard services than whites. They were forced to live in the townships with no facilities, no running water, etc. The official end of Apartheid was in 1994 with the first multi-racial election. Not surprisingly, the election was won by the African National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Nelson Mandela (in 1962 Mandela was arrested and convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released after 27 years after an international campaign lobbying for his release). The scars of Apartheid and white supremacist rule are still evident throughout South Africa, particularly in the Townships. Segregation is still a fact of life. Although steps are being made to improve the living conditions in the townships, by North American standards they are not that far above living in squalor. Communal toilets have been introduced and a move has been made towards replacing many of the corrugated metal “sheds” with concrete houses (in the attached photo the new houses are on the left side of the road while the old “sheds” are on the right). While we were on our walking tour we stopped off at the local church. The Township boys were playing and rough-housing on the steps while inside the girls were taking part in traditional dance lessons. We stayed for quite a while as the dance instructor and a lone drummer put the girls through their exercises. Quite a treat to watch!
After our visit to the Township we hopped back on the bus and hopped off at Hout Bay. We walked along the wharf to look at all the boats and a few trader booths that were still up (everything was closed down for the day). As there was little left to do or see there, we hopped back on the bus and made one last hop off at Camps Bay. Richard, our tour guide the day before had recommended a restaurant called “The Cod Father” for the best fish and chips in Cape Town. We had to try it out! It was tucked away on a little side street and the entrance was just a tiny doorway leading to a narrow set of stairs which led up to the restaurant itself. It is full of fresh seafood of all kinds. There is no menu as you make your own meal and then pay for it by weight. Julie ordered a nice piece of Kingklip and I had fresh Calamari and one gigantic prawn. The prawn weighed in at 200 grms. and cost R150.00 (about $16.00)! It was definitely a very good meal!
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