Cape Town “The Mother City” 30 Nov to 10 Dec 2022

Cape Town is said to be the mother city of Africa. It was the first metropolis. The word ‘metropolis’ is derived from the Greek word “Meter or metros”, which means mother and the Greek word “polis” which means city and the combination created the term Mother City. Cape Town is the first and original city of Africa. Its history can be traced back to 1650, when it was an important port of call for ships sailing the spice route. Here they would stop to take on supplies, water and to do essential repairs. The Dutch set up base here. In the beginning that went OK. They traded with the Khoikhoi and the San, collectively known as the Khoei-san. These were a nomadic people grazing their cattle and hunting on the fertile land of the cape. They were the original inhabitants of the cape. But as things go it didn’t take long for greed to set in and the fences and walls to arise, the bits of paper with rubber stamps to appear saying that this is mine. The rest, of course, is history.

The Mother City…. Another reason why it’s called the mother city is 9 months… that’s how long it takes to get anything done here. It is one great big laid-back city. Listening to the locals talking in their own dialect I get flashes back to the Caribbean and parts of South America. There are many languages spoken here in Cape Town. The main language being English, but then there is Afrikaans, a sort of ancient Dutch, 17th century, watered down with words from the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) and Madagascar. Then there is Khoi also widely spoken. It’s really complicated and not to forget Xhosa.  Cape Town or Kaapstad, in Afrikaans or iKapa in Xhosa, is a melting pot. But the original name for Cape Town in the Khoisan language is Hui Gaeb, “the place where the clouds gather”, they are the table clothes of Table Mountain, towering over the city.This is an impressive sight really and the name truly fits.

Table Mountain with its table cloth
Table Top Mountain

Cape Town is a really impressive city as cities go. No other city can boast a phenomenal Tabletop Mountain in its back yard. This is truly an impressive site. It towers up above the city, its slopes covered with lush green foliage and vines on the lower slopes. Bare rock formations and the clouds that can cover its top and hang down its side like a tablecloth. You can hike up to the top or there is a cable car running. The weather on Table Top Mountain is really unpredictable. One-minute glorious sun, the next high winds and clouds.

Top of Table Mountain

It is a city with beautiful golden sandy beaches at its feet. Cape Town is divided up into different areas. The Waterkant, or waterfront is the trendy docklands. Hip chic vibe, full of swinging parties and shopping centers. It is also a good place to catch some good street music. It is also an expensive area.

Waterkant

Then there is the beautiful area of Bo-Kaap, brightly-coloured houses line narrow tree-lined, cobbled streets. This is the area where the newly emancipated slaves settled in 1830. Before that, in the 17th century, it housed the solders of the city garrison. Some of these houses are national monuments. 

The colorful houses of Bo-Kaap

It is also a major international harbor port. The old harbor being taken over to a large extent by the Waterkant or docklands. It is home to luxury yachts and tour and charter boats. It also home to a fishing fleet of trawlers and some old ships. Off to one side is a major shipping terminal.

Fishing trawlers of Waterkant

On each side of the harbour are beautiful sandy beaches. The city center is really a mixture of different styles of architecture, from modern to colonial and afro chic décor on some of the houses, to little alleyways housing some brilliant little eateries, clubs and drinking places.

Beautiful sandy beaches of Cape Town
Strolling around the harbour

Then there is Signal Hill where exactly at 12 noon a canon is fired. This is a centuries old tradition. It functions as a clock so that, at midday, the ships in the harbour could set their clocks. This was essential for navigational purposes. It is now a tradition. Nowadays the canon is connected to an atomic clock, and it is fired automatically. Every evening people troop up to Signal Hill to watch the sunset.

Sunset on Signal Hill

Just of the harbour, out to sea, is an island called Robben Island. This island was named by the Dutch in the mid 1600’s. Robben is Dutch for seals. It was first used as a supply station for the ships running up to the Indies. Once the trade moved to the mainland it became a prison. The first prisoner being the leader of a mutiny onboard one of the Dutch VOC ships. The letters VOC stand for Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, established in 1602. It translates as the Dutch East India Company and truly it was the very first multinational company. This is well documented in history.

But Robben Island is really famous for its maximum-security prison that housed all the political prisoners who spoke out against apartheid and there were many. There was a short period when it was a mental institution and a home for people suffering from Hansen’s disease or Leprosy. But its main function was a maximum-security prison. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years as a prisoner on Robben Island in the maximum-security section. But the longest serving prisoner, on the island, was Jafta Masemola, he spent 27 years in the maximum-security wing. All the prisoners were required to do hard labour, working in the limestone quarries. The last political prisoner was released in 1991 and in 1997 it was turned into a world heritage site.

Robben Island prison

There are guided tours running from the Nelson Mandala gateway museum to the museum on Robben Island. The tour lasts 4 hours in total. The journey out there and back takes an hour and the tour on the island lasts for 3 hours. If you are into the history of South Africa and the apartheid movement, then it is a must. The first part of the tour is a bus ride around the island with a guide, the second part is a tour of the prison complex and the cell of Nelson Mandala. The tour of the prison is given by ex-political prisoners and is really emotionally charged, but with absolutely no bitterness or hatred. What’s past is in the past. Robben island is also a protected African pinguin reserve.

My guide, ex-prisoner!
Nelson Mandela’s cell

Cape Town is a huge city but yet a lot of it is condensed in the City Bowl, Foreshore, Bo-Kaap and the Waterkant. These are the areas that I explored the most and the area where I stayed. I explored mostly by walking around and taking Ubers at night.

Walking around Cape Town
Cape Town market

Cape Town is a really old city and was renowned in the early days as a rowdy seafarer’s haven, with sailors from all over the world wandering around and getting drunk. Sitting down on the V&A Waterkant I closed my eyes and I could hear the sounds of the 17 and 18th century sailors and the old wooden sailing ships in the harbour. For brief moments in time, I was transported back to a long-forgotten era.

Me doing the Cape Town pose

A lot of my time in Cape Town was spent trying to get Tiggy Moondust, my bike, into the country. The ship that was carrying the container got delayed outside of the ports, so it was late arriving into Cape Town. When it finally arrived, the container was held back by customs for a random security check and to inspect the bike. Communication with the South African agent was always tomorrow, then once again tomorrow. Definitely not a man of many words. Shipping your bike by sea freight is not an exact science, ships get delayed or rerouted. It’s just a pain when it happens to you, and you have plans. But the first plan, when you travel, is to be ready to throw the plan out the window and to lie back in your hammock and make a new plan and of course to open the window before you throw the plan out.

Waiting for the bike…

I am still waiting for customs to inspect the bike, check out the frame and engine numbers and stamp my carnet. Without this I can’t get it into the country. My bike was scheduled to be examined today Friday 9 December. But the agent phoned me with the news that the customs agents went to an office Christmas party…. Welcome to Africa and the Mother City, where everything takes 9 months. It has now been rescheduled for Monday. But it has been rescheduled every day for the last week. Jeeezzz how many Christmas parties can the Customs have.

 I have been staying in Greenpoint but now I am moving to the suburbs. A Swiss biker saw a post of mine on a travel forum and immediately invited me to stay at his place here in the cape. He rode his Harley Davidson Fat Boy from Switzerland to Cape Town arriving here a couple of days ago. His name is Jean-Robert Abplanalp, he has a Facebook blog, link on his page and his internet blog is https://eng-tassels.blogspot.com/p/preparing-my-rtw.html

Jean Robert on his White Stallion…. hi ho silver!

If you have Facebook, click on the Facebook logo, then now it’s time for you to jump into your favorite chair with a nice wee cup of tea and a piece of cake. Grab the mouse and click your way through the like named photo album, click and enjoy the sights of the mother city.

To follow my trip on my Findmespot satellite tracker click on the link in the menu above. 

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