Robben Island iii...the sucess story!

---

Before we go on to the really exciting stuff of our Tuesday adventures, a brief note to say thanks to Catherine and Danny for a lovely afternoon and a great meal at Spurs in the mall yesterday! Catherine and Danny were our roomies in Chill & Surf, so it was really nice to be able to catch up with them! Good luck with your next trip guys!!

Now on to today.....

WE FINALLY MADE IT!!! We finally, third time lucky, got to go and visit Robben Island! And how worth the wait it was! We browsed through the Robben Island Museum, featuring a very young Mr Mandela. And then joined the throng queing (so very British) and embarked the Sea Princess ferry for our 35 minute trip over to the Island. Once there, we were greeted by our guide for phase 1 of the tour. He took us by bus around the Island, pointing out its interesting features and giving us a lot of background history. Apparently, the Island has survived three main periods; the leper time, the war time and the prison time. Did you know, people actually live on Robben Island today?!? The staff and thier families have a small town...there's even a school with 22 pupils and 2 teachers (including a teaching head!!!) After his very entertaining tour, we were dropped at the maximum security prison block and met by a former inmate of the prison.

To meet him, was an absolute honour and a privilage. To hear his story first hand, to see where he slept and the conditions in which he lived and worked and the horrible torture and abuse that the prisoners suffered was an experience we will never forget. For years, they slaved in a lime quarry, sometimes only to have the lime moved to another spot ready for them to start the work all over again. During this time, some prisoners attended the University of Robben Island...a small cave in the quarry, where they were able to teach and learn from each other. Unfortunately this cave was also where they ate their lunch, sheltered from the sun and went to the toilet! We were then given a tour through several other prison blocks until we walked through Nelson Mandela's Gardem, something that he fought long and hard for during his incarceration. After a short talk here, we were then taken to Mandela's cell. Words can't describe this. It was a tiny, gloomy room. It had one window, from which you could see the garden and the high, inescapable walls. There was a bucket for his toiletting needs, a mat on which he slept and one blanket to keep him warm! Inmates were given one set of clothes, a shorts and shirt outfit, in which they lived, ate and slept, summer and winter!

We left feeling very humbled by our visit, so did what we do best.......ATE! We stayed at the V&A Waterfront and headed to a very swish silver service restaurant, Balthazars. This has been voted South Africa's best grill and steak house, and boy did it live up to its reputation for good dining!!! We had a fabulous three course meal, with all the accompaniments of a good meal, and left feeling most content and stuffed to the brim! Some of us (Lizzie) even managed to sleep in car the whole way back from Cape Town to Fish Hoek!

**Again....pictures will follow! Lizzie's hanging her head in shame!**

---