Wednesday, February 23, 2011

 The conditions at the Lanzerac Hotel weren't too good for blogging as I had to go on battery only. Also didn't have a lot of time after I got my battery charged up. It's great where we are now as I can plug in at the desk in our room. Wifi is also free!! We are in Capetown at the Table Bay Hotel which is right on the waterfront. I have the windows open and the lovely sea air is coming in. We travelled down here this morning (only a short drive as we were almost on the outskirts of Capetown when at Stellenbosch). Our  first stop was the District Six museum. It was very interesting and quite sad. Our group was given a short talk by a man who had lived in District Six. What happened is that a lot of different races and cultures lived there very happily until apartheid came and the government didn't want them living in the same place. So over 7 years or so, they tore down this area of town and made people move to where the same races were. One sad story -- a colored man was married to a black woman. He had to go live with the coloreds and she and her 3 children had to go live in a black community. He had to ask permission from the police to visit her and was only allowed to do so every 3 months for 2 hours at a time. And this District Six wasn't a bunch of shanty buildings -- it was 3 to 4 story buildings with churches, stores, etc. Very sad. The whites were supposed to move there but none would. They are gradually building houses for those who want to go back -- on the same spot they were before. There is a map of the city on the floor of the museum and the former residents put their name on the spot where their house was.

After this we went up Table Mountain. That's quite a cable car ride. The car turns slowly around as you go up so you see all the angles. It is supposed to have the longest span in the world. I was fascinated by the trail under it. What looks like a steep wall has a trail wending its way up. Takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours they say. I wouldn't want to come down it. The mountain looks flat on top but isn't of course. It's got lots of rock formations. Will put a picture on later. It's soon time to go for supper.

We had a lovely walk along the waterfront. Lots of shops, both expensive and not. There was a very large craft market which I found interesting so left some money there!! We'll explore more another day.

This is a beautiful city -- lives up to its reputation.