|
The heart of Cape Town lies in a ‘bowl’ formed by a horseshoe of mountains – Signal Hill, Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak – rolling down to the Atlantic. Cradled between the slopes and the sea lies the central business district, a compact grid of broad streets lined with a hotch-potch of modern high-rises and colonial buildings. Adderley Street is the main artery of the commercial centre, busy with a constant throng of shoppers, but at its southern end it turns into quiet, tree-lined Government Avenue which holds the city’s major museums and historical buildings. A few blocks west lies quirky Long Street, backpacker central and a hive of trendy restaurants and late-night bars. Behind the centre, rolling up the southern slopes of the City Bowl, are the historical inner-city suburbs of Gardens, Oranjezicht and Tamboerskloof, affluent and leafy districts dominated by Table Mountain. To the west, on the slopes of Signal Hill, are the altogether different, but no less picturesque cobbled streets of the Bo-Kaap, the historical Muslim area which somehow survived apartheid’s bulldozers. Northwest of the City Bowl lies Cape Town’s original Victorian harbour, the city’s most popular attraction. The whole area was completely renovated in the early 1990s, and today original buildings stand shoulder to shoulder with mock-Victorian shopping centres, al fresco restaurants and cinemas, all crowding along a waterside walkway with Table Mountain looming in the background. It is an enjoyable area, but very touristy – prices are higher in restaurants and shops, and some say over-sanitized and artificial. Recent developments, however, such as the opening of the Nelson Mandela Gateway to nearby Robben Island, have gone some way in raising the area’s profile. Along the shore from the V & A Waterfront lies the modern residential area of Green Point, a bland throng of apartment blocks crowding between Signal Hill and the rocky shoreline, but hiding a huddle of colourful Victorian bungalows, part of the Bo-Kaap. This has become Cape Town’s major gay and lesbian hub, and the city’s wildest bars and clubs stretch along the main Somerset Road. Following this road away from the City Bowl leads to Sea Point, a similarly modern coastal district with a sizeable Jewish population. In contrast to Green Point however, Sea Point has a real family atmosphere and during the summer feels more like a European seaside resort than a South African suburb. Clifton, further round the peninsula from Sea Point, is Cape Town’s Beverley Hills (-on -Sea, if you like). This is where the rich and beautiful come to see and be seen, to show off bikinis and yachts, flex muscles and bask. Made up of a string of rocky coves, the small, white sand beaches are beautiful, backed by some of Cape Town’s most sought-after villas and apartments, but surprisingly there is little in the way of nightlife or restaurants here. Camps Bay, just round the headland, has the monopoly on these. The main road stretching behind the long, more family-oriented beach is lined with some of the best seafood restaurants and ‘sundowner’ bars in Cape Town. On the other side of the City Bowl, stretching southeast along the slopes of Devil’s Peak towards False Bay, are Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs. The first suburb, Woodstock, is mainly a working-class coloured district, its rundown commercial centre hiding an attractive mesh of beautiful Victorian bungalows. Further along lies the bohemian hub of Observatory, an appealing grid of brightly painted houses, filled with trendy student-friendly bars, cafés and restaurants. The next suburbs of Mowbray, Rosebank and Rondebosch lie just below the University of Cape Town, getting progressively smarter (and whiter) as you progress round the mountain. Claremont, on the other side of Table Mountain, leads to beautiful Constantia, Cape Town’s wealthiest suburb. Behind here, stretching up the slopes of Table Mountain, are the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a perfect backdrop to the heavily fortified mansions. The majority of Cape Town’s inhabitants live in the townships of the Cape Flats, the vast plain stretching between Table Mountain and the Winelands. This is the first area that visitors pass through on their way from the airport to the city centre, but it is rarely visited by tourists and steadfastly avoided by white Capetonians. At first glance, the townships do seem barren and bleak, but beyond the imposing light towers and wire fences lie well- established and thriving communities, holding much of Cape Town’s contemporary culture. The main townships – Guguletu, Langa, Mitchell’s Plain, Crossroads and Khayelitsha – remain largely either coloured or black, while poverty and crime are a continuing scourge. Yet their pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid secured their importance in the life of Cape Town, and a visit to the townships provides a far broader sense of what the city is all about. At the other end of the peninsula from the city centre is False Bay, a vast arch stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the headland before Walker’s Bay and Hermanus in the east. False Bay is defined by a string of small seaside towns and fishing villages, including delightful Kalk Bay, an artsy village with the bay’s only coloured fishing community, and well-established Simon’s Town, the most family-oriented beach area around Cape Town. Further south is famous Boulders Beach, with its entertaining colony of African penguins, and finally the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, a superb vantage point and excellent hiking country.
|
