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The Cape Town region first came to the attention of the European world when the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias landed there in 1486 but it was not until 1652 that any attempt was made to build a permanent settlement when the Dutch East India Company established a way-station for ships travelling to what is now Indonesia.
Apparently the settlement grew only slowly as it was difficult to find adequate labour. This was overcome by importing slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar. These became the ancestors of the current “Cape Coloured” communities.
During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars the Netherlands was regularly occupied by France and Britain started to take control of the Dutch colonies. Cape Town was captured in 1795, returned to the Dutch in 1803, was reoccupied in 1806 and finally ceded permanently to Britain in 1814.
The region grew substantially during the 1800s and eventually calls were made for greater independence from Britain. A parliament was established in 1854 and a locally accountable Prime Minister appointed in 1872.
The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 led to a flood of immigrants. As the population increased, conflict between the Boer republics in
the interior and the British colonial government culminated in the Boer War of 1899-1902.
Britain won but in 1910 established the Union of South Africa which unified the Cape Colony with the Boer republics and the other British colony of Natal. Cape Town became the legislative capital of the Union and, later, of the Republic of South Africa.
The ship docked close to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront (V&A), a rejuvenated area of docklands, which has become home to numerous hotels, restaurants, bars, coffee shops and shopping centres. This is also where the ferry to the old prison on Robben Island departs.
We walked the short distance to the V&A but quickly decided that it was a tourist trap and everything was over-priced or tawdry (and sometimes both).
The shore excursions offered by the cruise line didn't appeal to us or were more expensive than we were willing to pay. We did contemplate taking the cable-car trip to the top of Table Mountain but, as both of us have a dislike of heights, decided that the four minute trip up (and then down) was not worth the panic it would induce in us. We
later heard that people who did take this excursion had to queue for up to four hours to get on the cable-car and then an hour and a half to get the car down again.
As always, Sylvia wanted to visit a local quilt shop. We asked at the Tourist Information desk and they gave us a map with the location of two quilt shops marked. After coffee and a discussion, we decided that one shop was too difficult to get to but the other was close enough to the route of the “Hop-On-Hop-Off” bus to make a visit worthwile. As this would also enable us to get a tour of Cape Town, we walked down to the place the bus left from, joined the long queue to buy tickets and eventually got on the very crowded bus.
We got off at the stop closest to the quilt shop and followed the directions we had been given but couldn't find any shops other than a couple which sold ready-made clothing and even they were closed. We had forgotten that it was Sunday 😞.
By now it was lunch time so we checked out some of the pubs
which sold food. The meals looked appetising but were so expensive that we didn't want to pay the price. Instead we opted to go to one of the local “fast food” restaurants for a quick meal before setting out on the remaining part of our bus tour. An hour later, we were still waiting for our “quick” meal and the coffee we had ordered to accompany it. It wasn't that we had been forgotten as other people were waiting also. Clearly the African concept of “fast” is not the same as ours. Eventually our meals did turn up and were quite pleasant but the coffee didn't come until ten minutes later.
Feeling frustrated but refreshed, we set off to the nearest tour bus stop and stumbled across Greenmarket Square. Here there was a small market selling clothes, household goods, jewellery and assorted bric-a-brac. There was nothing for sale that interested us but the market itself was bright and colourful and the first thing we had seen that wasn't directed at tourists.
At each end of the market was a troupe of young people performing zulu dances in the hope of earning a few rand. They were dressed in
traditional clothing and had bottle tops attached to each ankle which rattled in rhythm as they danced and stamped their feet. I suspect the entertainment may have been organised as, after a few minutes, the dancers were replaced by another group of young people – a church group who sang and chanted hymns while clapping and swaying. We enjoyed the dancers more.
After a toilet break and a cup of tea at the tour bus offices, we rejoined the bus and travelled up to the lower cable car station. Even though it is less than half way up Table Mountain, the views back over the Cape Town bowl are spectacular. I doubt they are much better at the top.
From there, the tour went over the Twelve Apostles range of hills behind Table Mountain to Camp Bay and along the coast road via various small resort towns back to the V&A. By now it was fairly late in the afternoon and, even though the ship wasn't due to leave until 10pm, we decided to walk back to the ship rather than eat at the V&A as dinner on board was probably better than any of the restaurants, wouldn't
cost us any extra and the wine was cheaper.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Fabulous
Maybe the quilt shops are impossible to find but it sounds as if you are having a fabulous trip. Enjoy!