Cape Town (Kaapstad in Afrikaans, iKapa in Xhosa — population 4.6 million in the City of Cape Town metro — the legislative capital of South Africa, the second-most populated city after Johannesburg, and by nearly universal agreement the most beautiful city in Africa and one of the most beautiful cities in the world) sits at the southwestern tip of the African continent between two oceans (the Atlantic and the Indian), beneath the extraordinary geological monument of Table Mountain (the flat-topped sandstone plateau, 1,086m above sea level, that overlooks the city and was the first landmark sighted by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias when he rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488). Cape Town's character is shaped by the convergence of extraordinary natural geography (the mountain, the two oceans, the Cape Floral Kingdom (the smallest and most biodiverse of the world's six floral kingdoms, with 9,600 plant species in an area the size of Portugal, 70% of which are endemic)), the extremity of South Africa's historical divisions (the Cape was the site of the first European settlement in sub-Saharan Africa (the Dutch East India Company (VOC) refreshment post of Jan van Riebeeck, 1652), the original point of entry of the Dutch and British settlers whose descendants became the Afrikaner people, and the location of Robben Island (the prison island in Table Bay where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment (1964–1982 — moved to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982))), and the extraordinary culinary diversity of the Cape Malay cuisine (the cooking of the enslaved people brought to the Cape from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and East Africa by the VOC — the Cape Malay curry, the boboties, the koesisters and the Malay pickles are the most distinctive and historically significant food tradition in South Africa).
Table Mountain Aerial Cableway (the rotating cable car from the Lower Cable Station (on Tafelberg Road) to the Upper Cable Station (on the summit plateau at 1,086m): the rotating cabin (the floor rotates 360° during the 5-minute ascent, giving every passenger a complete panorama of the city, the ocean and the Cape Peninsula during the ascent): the summit plateau (the 3km×1.5km flat-topped surface of the Table Mountain: the "tablecloth" (the orographic cloud that frequently covers the summit — the south-easterly wind (the Cape Doctor) pushes the warm Indian Ocean air over the cold Atlantic mountain rock, condensing into the distinctive flat layer of cloud that the Portuguese called "The Governor's Table"): at the summit, the 29km of hiking paths across the plateau, the dassies (rock hyraxes — the small furry mammals on the summit rocks, the closest living relative of the elephant), and the panorama of the Cape Peninsula, the two oceans, and Robben Island in Table Bay.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBo-Kaap (the "Above the Cape" — the neighborhood on the slopes of Signal Hill immediately northwest of the city center: the most colorful neighborhood in Cape Town and the most historically significant to the Cape Malay community (the descendants of the enslaved people brought to the Cape by the Dutch VOC (1652–1795) from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and East Africa — specifically the Muslim craftsmen, spice traders and religious leaders who were enslaved and transported to the Cape Colony): the characteristic brightly painted houses (the vivid pinks, yellows, greens and blues of the Bo-Kaap facades — the tradition of painting the houses in bright colors began after the end of slavery (1834): the formerly enslaved community painted their houses to celebrate freedom), the cobblestone streets (the original cobblestones laid by the VOC), and the Auwal Mosque (the oldest mosque in South Africa, established 1794).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVictoria & Alfred Waterfront (the working harbor complex on the Table Bay waterfront — the most visited tourist destination in South Africa: the 123-hectare harbor development combining the working port, the craft market, the restaurants and the Two Oceans Aquarium (the aquarium at the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet — the most biodiverse marine environment in the Southern Hemisphere: the kelp forest exhibit, the ragged-tooth sharks and the African penguins in the touch pool)) and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (the Zeitz MOCAA — the Thomas Heatherwick-designed museum in the converted 1924 grain silo: the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world (100+ collections of living African and diaspora artists), with the extraordinary concrete grain-silo-shaped atrium at the center).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBobotie (the Cape Malay dish that is the national dish of South Africa: the spiced minced meat (traditionally beef or lamb, in the Cape Malay tradition: the meat is seasoned with the specific Cape Malay spice mixture (turmeric, coriander, cumin, garam masala and the Cape Malay atjar (the pickled relish of Indian origin) mixed with apricot jam and raisins (the sweet element that distinguishes Cape Malay cooking from any other African food tradition)) baked with an egg custard topping in an earthenware dish and garnished with bay leaves: the most direct culinary descendant of the Malay and Indonesian cooking of the enslaved people brought to the Cape). Biesmiellah Restaurant (Upper Wale Street, Bo-Kaap — the most authentic Cape Malay restaurant in South Africa, operating since 1975, run by the same family).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCape of Good Hope National Park (the 77km drive from Cape Town along the Cape Peninsula: the Chapman's Peak Drive (the 9km cliff-edge road cut into the 593m Chapman's Peak above the Atlantic — one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world: the road was carved from the sheer rock face between 1915 and 1922 by prisoners using hand tools and black powder explosives), the Cape of Good Hope (the rocky headland at the southwestern tip of the African continent — the point where the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias rounded in 1488, the first European to do so), and the Cape Point (the lighthouse above the most dramatic cliff in the national park: the 250m vertical drop to the sea from the original lighthouse (1860), which was built too high and too often obscured by cloud — replaced by the lower lighthouse (1919) that is the current navigation light). The bontebok, baboons (the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) — the baboons that have become bold and opportunistic with tourist food), and the ostrich (wild on the Cape Peninsula) are all resident in the national park.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBoulders Beach (Simon's Town — the sheltered granite-boulder beach on the Indian Ocean side of the Cape Peninsula, 40km from Cape Town: the African penguin colony (Spheniscus demersus — the African penguin (formerly called the Jackass penguin for its donkey-like braying call): the species is endemic to the coasts of southern Africa and is classified as Endangered (the global population has declined from 3 million in the 1920s to fewer than 50,000 today — overfishing of the sardine and anchovy stocks that the penguins depend on). The Boulders Beach colony (established in 1985 when two breeding pairs arrived on the beach — the first penguins on the Cape Peninsula in recorded history: the colony has grown to 3,000 individuals): the penguins share the beach with swimmers, nesting in the vegetation behind the boulders and walking through the beach café.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSignal Hill (the 350m promontory between the Bo-Kaap and the Atlantic: the Noon Gun (the bronze muzzle-loading cannon fired at exactly noon every day since 1806 — the gun was originally fired to allow the ships in Table Bay to set their chronometers for longitude calculation: still fired daily as the oldest military tradition in South Africa)) and the Signal Hill sunset viewpoint: the view west over the Atlantic with Robben Island (the prison island visible 11km offshore, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and museum) and the sun setting over the ocean from the mountain shoulder. The Lion's Head (669m — the conical peak beside Signal Hill, accessible by a 2-hour circular hike with chains and ladder sections on the steeper sections: the full-moon hike to Lion's Head is a Cape Town tradition).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRobben Island (the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Table Bay — the island used as a prison from the 17th century, most famously for political prisoners of the apartheid government from 1961 to 1991: the prison where Nelson Mandela (sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for "sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government") spent 18 of his 27 years (transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982, released unconditionally on February 11, 1990). The guided tour (mandatory — former political prisoners serve as guides, among them some who served sentences alongside Mandela): the lime quarry where Mandela spent 13 years breaking limestone (the lime dust causing the gradual deterioration of his eyesight), the B Section of the Maximum Security Prison (Mandela's cell: 4.5 sq m with a mat for sleeping and a bucket for toilet), and the views back to Table Mountain. The ferry departs from the V&A Waterfront (Nelson Mandela Gateway).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideStellenbosch (45km east of Cape Town — the oldest wine town in South Africa (established 1679 by Simon van der Stel, Governor of the Cape Colony: the town whose Cape Dutch architecture (the characteristic white-plastered gabled manor houses of the 17th–18th century Afrikaners) is the most intact in South Africa, and the center of the Cape Winelands (the most important wine region in the Southern Hemisphere in terms of quality and wine tourism): the Winelands valleys (the Helderberg, the Franschhoek Valley, the Stellenbosch Valley) produce the South African signature varietals: the Pinotage (the South African-bred grape: a cross between the Cinsaut (formerly called Hermitage in South Africa — hence "Pinotage") and the Pinot Noir, created by Professor Abraham Izak Perold at Stellenbosch University in 1925), the Chenin Blanc ("Steen" in South Africa — the most planted white variety in South Africa), and the Bordeaux blends of Stellenbosch (the "Cape Blend" is a Bordeaux blend with Pinotage inclusion).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBraai (the South African barbecue — the most important social institution in South Africa: the braai (from the Afrikaans "braaivleis" (literally "grilled meat")) is a wood-fire or charcoal grill on which the Boerewors (the "farmer's sausage" — the coiled pork and beef sausage seasoned with coriander, nutmeg and cloves, the most essential braai sausage in South Africa), the lamb chops (the Karoo lamb — the lamb from the Karoo plateau where the animals feed on the aromatic karoo bushes that give the meat its distinctive flavor), and the potjiekos (the cast-iron pot stew that simmers beside the braai: the potjie is a small three-legged cast-iron pot of the Voortrekker tradition — the pioneers who trekked from the Cape Colony into the interior in the 1830s: the potjiekos is a slow-cooked stew of whatever is available, the South African equivalent of the campfire stew). The Waterfront restaurants with the Table Mountain view at sunset: the most beautiful backdrop for a farewell braai.
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