Woolly says – We’d managed a leisurely get up, a first on this trip, well except for Jo who was up at the crack of dawn working away. Having enjoyed our breakfast, we had taken the sensible option of ordering an uber, it might have only been 9.30am but it was already blisteringly hot. The car arrived and off we went to discover some more of the city, first stop the V&A Waterfront.
The V&A Waterfront is located in the oldest working harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, named after Prince Alfred and Queen Victoria, Alfred, while serving in the British Royal Navy, visited Cape Town and ordered construction of a new harbour for the colony. I was excited to see some of the colonial buildings and what else the frontage had to offer. Our driver dropped us off and we stood looking at a large carpet, Jo set off towards the sea wall with Zoe and I following.
There was sea, as I turned my back on the sea and looked at the large hotel which looked very posh but I was failing to see anything else, both of the women looked confused, we started to walk towards some buildings in the distance when Zoe shouted out ‘dolphins’ and we all peered over the wall to see an odd fin rise above the waves, that was nice I said. Jo was looking concerned.
I was concerned from what I had read the waterfront was a popular tourist area and we really couldn’t see why unless you counted the big wheel.
Arriving at a large shopping mall with sweat running off us we dived into the wonderful aircon and grabbed some drinks and logged onto the free Wi-Fi to try and work out what was going on. Ten minutes later and we realised that we had been dropped off in the wrong place but a quick walk through the mall took us into the real V&A area.
It was actually really nice with cafes, shops and all manner of statues on show.
We stood watching the bridge opening and letting boats through to the sea for a while before crossing the bridge and taking a moment to look at the wonderful clock tower.
A few moments away was one of the days planned activities. The Cape Town Diamond Museum which pays tribute to the world’s most precious gem, the diamond. The story of diamonds in South Africa begins between December 1866 and February 1867 when 15 year old Erasmus Jacobs found a transparent rock on his father’s farm, on the south bank of the Orange River. Over the next few years, South Africa yielded more diamonds than India had in over 2,000 years. As annual world diamond production increased more than tenfold in the following 10 years, a once extremely rare material became accessible to Western society with its growing wealth. Today South Africa maintains its position as a major diamond producer.
Having paid over our rand we were led inside by our guide; I could feel Jo clenching her teeth as the guide started to give out her spiel about how the first diamond had been found.
We then passed through a small tunnel which was supposed to give us an idea of what the mines had looked like before arriving at some famous replica diamonds including the stone given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton and the Hope Diamond.
The guide told us more about how the mines in Africa had changed owners over at the start of the diamond rush including Cecil Rhodes, (5th July 1853 to 26th March 1902) was an English mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate.
With the fake diamonds done the security gate was opened and we were into the real stuff, everywhere we looked there was glittering masses, mounted in rings, bracelets and all sorts of other things, the prices were eye watering, but it was lovely to see something so expensive up close.
With the tour completed we headed back to the waterfront and heading past a large metal elephant arrived at a former pump station now called Time Out which had a large selection of street food. As Zoe headed for the pizza section Jo and I decided to share a modern take on a prawn puri, it was delicious.
Happy with our time by the water we stood baking in the heat as we waited for another uber to take us to our last destination of the day.
The Castle of Good is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland. In 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. Built between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest existing building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed from clay and timber.
We walked though its two gates into a world of yellow. It didn’t look anything like an English or Welsh castle, more like a barracks. We set off to see what was behind the doors.
The first door that was open was a display of military equipment and told us how the Dutch and British had taken the area at separate times with some big, big guns and swords.
Following the pathway, we went under an archway and into the former armoury which was dark and beautifully cool. Next came a room dedicated to the migration of people across the world, having all started here in Africa it made for fascinating reading.
Across the path was the former granary which now housed a lovely collection of ceramics both old and new, there were some incredible African designs which although large would look wonderful anywhere in the world.
Walking further around the next open door led us into the dungeons area where they had carried out all manner of torture, it was chilling and after a quick look we hurried back outside.
Cobbled pathways led us to the courtyard where the Governor of the castle would have enjoyed some leisure time before entering a museum of history.
The museum was packed with items and fascinating to see, it also gave us a much greater insight into the history of Africa including how the natives of the country had been treated which was horrible.
Arriving at the Governor’s residence we admired the wonderful statues that were memorials to some of the people who had been incarcerated there.
Inside the governor’s residence we wandered through an art collection that had been owned by William Fehr, showing us paintings of Africans in warfare as well as plenty of seascapes of the cape.
A small passageway took us into a display of China.
Before heading up stairs to look at the longest table I have ever seen, seating for over 100 hundred guests it would have made for a great skateboard track.
Arriving back outside, the heat had increased and as we sat in the small café sipping cool drinks agreeing that although good the castle was a bit depressing with its history. Time seemed to have got away from us, and we were weary so finishing our drinks we ordered another uber and headed back to the accommodation to rest up for another big day tomorrow.