Cape Town - The city centre Travel Guides | Cape Town | Sub Regions | Cape Town - The city centre

The city itself rolls from the lower slopes of Table Mountain and holds most of Cape Town’s major sights and attractions. From the Lower Cableway Station, you look out over City Bowl, the central residential suburbs of Tamboerskloof, Gardens, Oranjezicht and Vredehoek, and beyond here lie the high-rise blocks of the business district. Closest to the mountain is Oranjezicht, a quiet district with a good selection of places to stay. Vredehoek, on the other hand, has mostly been given over to ugly high-rise apartments. Gardens is a lively neighbourhood with a good choice of restaurants and guesthouses. Cape Town’s best-known hotel, Mount Nelson , is situated here.

From here the land slopes gently towards the Waterfront, with the commercial heart of the city laid out in between. From the magnificent tree-lined Government Avenue and the oasis calm of Company’s Gardens, the city opens up into a lively hub of broad streets buzzing with a medley of besuited executives, trendy media types and boisterous market sellers. This is the historical heart of the city, but also the commercial centre, and as such is a mish-mash of beautiful colonial buildings, modern office blocks and crowded shopping centres. Adderley Street is the main artery, with most sights a few blocks away. The superb District Six Museum and the Castle of Good Hope are a few blocks to the east; Long Street, the playground of the young and hip is a short stroll west, with the lively market at Greenmarket Square lying between.

Sights

Free.

Running alongside Government Avenue is the peaceful Company’s Garden, situated on the site of Jan van Riebeeck’s original vegetable garden, which was created in 1652 to grow produce for settlers and ships bound for the East. It is now a small botanical garden, with lawns, a variety of labelled trees and ponds filled with Japanese koi. The grey squirrels living amongst the oak trees were introduced by Cecil Rhodes – Cape Prime Minister from 1890-96 – from America. There are also a couple of statues here: opposite the South African Public Library at the lower end of the garden, is the oldest statue in Cape Town, that of Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape from 1854-62. Close by is a statue of Cecil Rhodes, pointing northwards, with an inscription reading, “Your hinterland is there”, a reminder of his ambition to paint the map pink from the Cape to Cairo. There is a pleasant café in the garden, serving drinks and snacks beneath the trees.

Company’s Garden, T 021-4243330, http://www.museums.org.za/sam/">http://www.museums.org.za/sam/ 1000-1700. R8, children free. Free on Wed. Planetarium shows, Mon-Fri 1400, Sat/Sun, 1300, 1430. R10.

One of the city’s most established museums, it specializes in natural history, ethnography and archaeology and is a good place to bring kids. The first part of the collection has some interesting displays depicting the pre-European history of southern Africa. In the Stone Age room is the Linton panel, a beautifully preserved example of San rock art representing what has been interpreted as trance experiments. The ethnographic galleries offer excellent displays on the San, Khoi and Xhosa, amongst others. There is also a small display of pieces recovered from Great Zimbabwe which illustrate what an important trade centre it was: cornelian beads from Cambay, India and Syrian glass from the 14th century. At the Planetarium next door presentations change every few months, but a view of the current night sky is shown on the first weekend of each month. The shows are fascinating and last an hour.

Government Av, T 021-4249381. Tue-Sat, 0930-1630. R5.

This early 19th-century red brick Georgian house has a distinctly English feel to it. The building houses a collection of porcelain, jewellery and English furniture, the majority bequeathed by Ann Lidderdale, a Capetonian and important civic figure in the city in the 1950s. It was her desire to establish a house museum to commemorate the British contribution to life at the Cape. It opened in 1984. Downstairs the two drawing rooms contain all the trappings of a bygone elegant age – card tables, a Hepplewhite settee, a square piano and a fine harp. Three rooms have wallpaper from London, a very expensive luxury for the period. Upstairs the Doris Tothill silver tea set and the hair jewellery are particularly fine. There is a café set in the gardens.

Paddock Av, T 021-4651546, http://www.sajewishmuseum.co.za Sun- Thu 1000-1700, Fri 1000-1400. R30, R10 for kids.

In 1841 a congregation of 17 men assembled for the first time in Cape Town to celebrate Yom Kippur. At the meeting they set about the task of raising funds to build a synagogue, and in 1862 the foundation stone was laid for the first synagogue in southern Africa. The following year the building was completed and furn- nished – quite a feat for such a small community at the time. Inside the newly-renovated museum is a rich and rare collection of items depicting the history of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation and other congregations in the Cape Province. On display upstairs are bronze Sabbath oil lamps, Chanukkah lamps, Bessamin spice containers, Torah scrolls, Kiddush cups and candlesticks. There is a beautiful stained-glass window depicting the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. From here a glass corridor leads you to a new section of the museum which is devoted to the history of Jewish immigration to the Cape, mainly from Lithuania. A lot of thought has been put into the displays, which include photographs, immigration certificates, videos and a full reconstruction of a Lithuanian shetl or village. The museum complex also houses a library, café and bookshop.

Paddock Av, T 021-4625554, http://www.museums.org.za/ctholocaust">http://www.museums.org.za/ctholocaust Sun-Thu 1000-1700, Fri 1000-1300. Donation.

Cape Town’s newest museum is also one of its best, comprising an intelligent and shocking examination of the Holocaust. Exhibits follow a historical route, starting with a look at anti-Semitism in Europe in previous centuries, and then leading to the rise of Nazism in Germany, the creation of ghettos, death camps and the Final Solution, and liberation at the end of the war. Video footage, photography, examples of Nazi propaganda and personal accounts of the Holocaust produce a vividly haunting and shocking display. The exhibits cleverly acknowledge South Africa’s recent emergence from apartheid and draw parallels between both injustices, as well as looking at the link between South Africa’s Greyshirts (who were later assimilated into the National Party) and the Nazis. The local context is highlighted further at the end of the exhibition, with video accounts of Jews who survived the Holocaust and moved to Cape Town.

Paddock Av, T 021-4651628, http://www.museums.org.za/sang">http://www.museums.org.za/sang Mon 1300-1700, Tue-Sun 1000-1700. Donation.

The National Gallery houses a permanent collection of local and international art, as well as some interesting temporary exhibitions. The original collection was bequeathed to the nation in 1871 by Thomas Butterworth Bailey. Most of South Africa’s best-known artists are also represented, and the Hyman Liberman Hall is devoted to exhibiting new South African art. Snacks and light lunches are available at the Gallery Café.

78 Buitenkant St, T 021-4653628 , http://www.museums.org.za/rustv">http://www.museums.org.za/rustv reugd Mon-Sat 0900-1600. Free with the Castle of Good Hope ticket.

A few hundred metres east of the National Gallery, hidden behind a high whitewashed wall, is this 18th-century mansion. It was declared a historical monument in 1940, and subsequently restored to its best period. Today it houses six galleries displaying a unique collection of watercolours, engravings and lithographs depicting the history of the Cape. Commercial exhibitions are held in the galleries upstairs.

Queen Victoria St, T 021-4246320. Mon-Fri 0900-1700.

Adjoining the gardens is the South African Public Library, behind St George’s Cathedral. Opened in 1818, it is the country’s oldest national reference library and was one of the first free libraries in the world. Today it houses an excellent and important collection of historic books covering South Africa. The building also has a bookshop and an internet café.

Government Av, T 021-4032460.

The Houses of Parliament was completed in 1885, and when the Union was formed in 1910 it became the seat for the national parliament. In front of the building is a marble statue of Queen Victoria, erected by public subscription in honour of her Golden Jubilee. It was unveiled in 1890 by the then Governor, Sir Henry Loch. While parliament is sitting, from January to June, it is possible to watch from the visitors’ gallery during the week. Overseas visitors must show their passports and call in advance to watch debates. Guided tours of the chambers and Constitutional Assembly are also given.

Corner of Government Av and Wale St.

The last building on Government Avenue is St George’s Cathedral. The building you see today is comparatively new: it was built at the beginning of the 20th century, after the first church, based upon St Pancras Church in London, was turned down. The present cathedral was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. The cathedral has figured in the news a little more than one might expect, since up until June 1996 this was where Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave many of his famous sermons.

Corner of Adderley and Wale sts, T 021-4618280, http://www.museums. org.za/slavelodge Mon-Sat 0930-1630. R5.

Slave Lodge, previously known as the Cultural History Museum, is the second oldest building in Cape Town and has had a varied history, starting life as a lodge for slaves, and then becoming a library, a post office, the Cape Supreme Court, and finally a museum in 1966. Its most significant role, however, was as a slave lodge for the VOC (Dutch East India Company). Between 1679 and 1811 the building housed up to 1,000 slaves. Local indigenous groups were protected by the VOC from being enslaved; slaves were consequently imported from Madagascar, India, Indonesia and other parts of Africa, creating the most culturally varied slave society in the world.

Conditions at the lodge were terrible and up to 20% of the slaves died every year. Sadly only a glimpse of this history is displayed by the museum. Instead, much of the collection celebrates colonialism and includes rambling displays of British and VOC weapons, household goods, furniture and money, as well as relics from Japan and ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. There is also a room on the ‘Cape Kaleidoscope’, representing the history of Cape Town, and a display explaining some of the history of slavery. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the museum is a series of plaques describing the function of each room within the slave lodge. The museum’s planners are now in the process of restructuring much of the museum – many of the colonial collections will be replaced with displays depicting slavery in the Cape and the lasting effects it has had on South African society.

Corner of Adderley and Spin sts. 1030-1200, 1400-1500, weekdays. Free guided tours.

Nearby is one of Cape Town’s older corners, Church Square, site of the Groote Kerk. Up until 1834 the square was used as a venue for the auctioning of slaves from the Slave Lodge, which faced onto the square. All transactions took place under a tree – a concrete plaque marks the old tree’s position.

The Groote Kerk was the first church of the Dutch Reformed faith to be built in South Africa – building started in 1678 and it was consecrated in 1704. The present church, built between 1836 and 1841, is a somewhat dull grey building designed and built by Hermann Schutte after a fire had destroyed most of the original building. Many of the old gravestones were built into the base of the church walls, the most elaborate of which is the tombstone of Baron van Rheede van Oudtshoorn. Two of the Cape’s early governors are buried here – Simon van der Stel (1679-99), and Ryk Tulbagh (1751-71). Of particular note is the beautiful pulpit carved by Anton Anreith, whose work can also be seen at Groot Constantia. The two baroque heraldic lions which support the pulpit are said to represent the power of faith. Look out for the special pews with their own locked doors. These belonged to wealthy families who didn’t want to pray with commoners.

Darling St . Visitors can get a Holiday Visitors’ Card valid for 3 months for a small fee.

From Adderley Street, a short walk down Darling Street takes you to the City Hall and the Grand Parade. The latter is the largest open space in Cape Town and was originally used for garrison parades before the Castle was completed. Today the oak-lined parade is used as a car park and twice a week it is taken over by a busy market. After his release from prison, Nelson Mandela made his first speech to over 100,000 people on the Grand Parade from the City Hall on 9 May 1994. The neo-classical City Hall, built to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, overlooks the parade. The hall is now headquarters of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra and houses the City Library. The library reading room has local, national and international newspapers.

Darling St, http://www.castleofgoodhope.co.za 0900-1600. R15, includes a guided tour and entry to Rust en Vreugd. Entry from the Grand Parade side.

Beyond the Grand Parade is the main entrance of South Africa’s oldest colonial building, the Castle of Good Hope. Work started in 1666 by Commander Zacharias Wagenaer and was completed in 1679. Its original purpose was for the Dutch East India Company to defend the Cape from rival European powers, and today it is an imposing sight, albeit a rather gloomy one. Under the British, the Castle served as government headquarters and since 1917 it has been the headquarters of the South African Defence Force.

Today the castle is home to three museums. The William Fehr Collection is one of South Africa’s finest displays of furnishings, reflecting the social and political history of the Cape. There are landscapes by John Thomas Baines and William Huggins, 17th-century Japanese porcelain and 18th-century Indonesian furniture. Upstairs is an absurdly huge dining table which seats 104, in a room still used for state dinners.

To the left of the Fehr Collection is the Secunde’s House. The Secunde was second in charge of the settlement at the Cape, responsible for administrative duties for the Dutch East India Company. None of the three rooms contain original furniture from the Castle, but they do recreate the conditions under which an official for the Dutch East India Company would have lived in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.

The third museum is the Military Museum, a rather indifferent collection depicting the conflicts of early settlers. More absorbing are the regimental displays of uniforms and medals. Expect to have any bags checked since the castle is still used as the regional offices for the National Defence Force. There are free guided tours at 1100, 1200 and 1400. These are informative and fun, although a little short. Tour highlights include the torture chambers, cells, views from the battlements and Dolphin Court, where Lady Anne Barnard was supposedly seen bathing in the nude by the sentries. While waiting for a tour you can enjoy coffee and cakes at a small café, or explore van der Stel’s restored wine cellars, where you can taste and buy wines. Audio tapes can also be hired and provide a 45- minute tour. There is full ceremonial Changing of the Guard at noon.

25a Buitenkant St, T 021-4618745, http://www.districtsix.co.za Mon-Sat 0900-1600.

Housed in the Methodist Church, this museum is one of Cape Town’s most powerful exhibitions and gives a fascinating glimpse of the stupidity and horror of apartheid. District Six was once the vibrant, cosmopolitan heart of Cape Town, a largely coloured inner city suburb renowned for its jazz scene. In February 1966, PW Botha, then Minister of Community Development, formally proclaimed District Six a “white” group area. Over the next 15 years, an estimated 60,000 people were given notice to give up their homes and moved to the new townships on the Cape Flats. The area was razed, and to this day remains largely undeveloped.

The museum contains a collection of photographs, articles and personal accounts depicting life before and after the removals. Highlights include a large map covering most of the ground floor, upon which ex-residents have been encouraged to mark their homes and local sights. The “Namecloth” is particularly poignant: a 1.5m-wide length of cloth has been provided for ex-residents to write down their comments, part of which hangs by the entrance. It has grown to over 1 km in the last eight years, and features some moving and insightful thoughts.

Adderley Street is one of the city’s busiest shopping areas, and is sadly marred by a number of 1960s and 70s eyesores, but it does still boast some impressive bank buildings. On the corner of Darling Street is the Standard Bank Building (1880), a grand structure built shortly after the diamond wealth from Kimberley began to reach Cape Town. The exterior has a central dome surmounted by the figure Britannia, but it is the main banking hall which is of most interest, with all the original Victorian features remaining largely intact. Diagonally across Adderley Street is the equally impressive Barclays Bank Building (1933), a fine Ceres sandstone building which was the last major work by Sir Herbert Baker in South Africa. Though built 50 years after the Standard Bank, its interior is just as detailed in design.

At the corner of Adderley Street and Strand Street stands a modern shopping mall complex, the Sanlam Golden Acre. On the lower level of the complex the remains of an aqueduct and a reservoir dating from 1663 can be viewed. The line of black floor tiles close to the escalator which links the centre with the railway station mark the position of the original shoreline before any reclamation work began in Table Bay. Continuing down towards the docks, Adderley Street passes Cape Town Railway Station. At the junction with Hans Strijdom Street is a large roundabout with a central fountain and a bronze statue of Jan van Riebeeck, given to the city by Cecil Rhodes in 1899. Reibeeck was the first European to settle at the Cape, arriving in 1652 with 90 others. At the bottom end of Adderley Street are statues of Bartholomew Dias, a Portuguese explorer who was the first European to reach the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, and Maria van Riebeeck, wife of Jan van Riebeeck, donated respectively by the Portuguese and Dutch governments in 1952 for Cape Town’s tercentenary celebrations.

In front of the Medical Centre on Heerengracht is the Scott Memorial. What is on show is in fact a bronze replica; the original, a stone argosy, was smashed by vandals. Its location has barely changed, but when it was unveiled in 1916 it was on the approach to a pier at the foot of Adderley Street, a further indication of how much additional land has been reclaimed from Table Bay over the years. The palm trees once graced a marine promenade in this area. Up until the 1850s there was a canal running the full length of Heerengracht and Adderley streets. This was covered over as the city prospered and traffic congestion became a problem.

Strand St, T 021-4242473, http://www.museums.org.za/koopmans Tue-Sat 0930-1630. Small fee.

Just off St George’s Mall, on a pedestrian road lined with shops and cafés, is the delightfully peaceful Koopmans-De Wet House. Surviving in the midst of ugly modern buildings and the bustle of central Cape Town, it is one of the more interesting museums in town. The house is named in memory of Marie Koopmans-De Wet, a prominent figure in cultured Cape Society, who lived here between 1834 and 1906. The inside has been restored to reflect the period of her grandparents who lived here in the late 18th century. Though not too cluttered there is a fascinating collection of furnishings which gives the house an appealing, tranquil feel. The back of the house has a shaded courtyard and the original stables with the slave quarters above.

This is the old heart of Cape Town and the second oldest square in the city. It has long been a meeting place, and during the 19th century it became a vegetable market. In 1834 it took on the significant role of being the site where the declaration of freeing all slaves was made. Today it remains a popular meeting place and is lined with outdoor cafés and restaurants. A busy daily market sprawls across the cobbles, with stalls selling African crafts, jewellery and clothes.

Most of the buildings around the square reflect the city’s history. Dominating one side is a Holiday Inn, housed in what was once the headquarters of the Shell Oil Company – note the shell motifs on its exterior. Diagonally opposite is the Old Town House (1751), originally built to house the town guard. It became the first town hall in 1840 when Cape Town became a municipality. Much of the exterior remains unchanged, and with its decorative plaster mouldings and fine curved fanlights is one of the best preserved Cape Baroque exteriors in the city. Today the white double-storeyed building houses the Michaelis collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings. Next to the Tudor Hotel is the second oldest building in the square – the Metropolitan Methodist Church (1876). This is the only high Victorian church in Cape Town and has a tall spire with a unique series of miniature grotesques decorating its exterior. If you’re interested in antiques, walk out of the square past the Methodist church to Church Street. The area between Burg and Long Streets is the venue for a daily antique street market.

This stretch is one of the trendiest in Cape Town, and gets particularly lively at night. Lined with street cafés, fashionable shops, bars, clubs and backpacker lodges, it has a distinctly young feel about it, but is also home to some fine old city buildings. One of Cape Town’s late Victorian gems is at number 117, now an antique shop. On the outside is an unusual cylindrical turret with curved windows; inside is a fine cast iron spiral staircase leading to a balustraded gallery.

South African Missionary House Museum, or Sendinggestig Museum, at number 40, is one of the more interesting buildings on Long Street. It is the oldest mission church in South Africa, built between 1802-04 as the mother church for missionary work carried out in rural areas. Though utilized by directors and members of the South African Missionary Society, it was more commonly used for religious and literacy instruction of slaves in Cape Town. By 1960 most of its congregation had been moved to the Cape Flats or died. Inside, there is a permanent display of missionary work throughout the Cape, and behind the pulpit are display cabinets showing early cash accounts and receipts for transactions such as the transfer of slaves.

A few blocks west along Wale Street is the Bo-Kaap, Cape Town’s historical Islamic quarter and one of the city’s most interesting residential areas. Its streets are characterized by brightly-painted Georgian facades, tightly packed along cobbled streets. Although fast becoming popular with a yuppie class, the area has managed to retain much of its ambience and strong identity. Bo-Kaap residents are descendants of slaves imported by the Dutch in the 17th century – although they are still referred to as Cape Malays, only a tiny percentage originated in Malaysia. Most came from India, Madagascar and West Africa. Bo-Kaap Museum, housed in an attractive 18th-century house, is dedicated to the community and contains the furnishings of a wealthy 19th-century Muslim family. In the front room there is one item of original furniture, a table inlaid with mother of pearl. In the prayer room, langgar, is an old Koran and tasbeh beads set in front of the mihrab alcove, while the courtyard holds a collection of coaches and early carts. Unfortunately none of the items have any explanatory labels. The house itself is one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town surviving in its original form. It was built by Jan de Waal for artisans in 1763. It was here that Abu Bakr Effendi started the first Arabic school and wrote some important articles on Islamic Law. He originally came to Cape Town as a guest of the British Government to try and settle religious differences amongst the Cape Muslims.

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