The South African Sojourn - Day 8: Falling in love Cape Town

Cape Town. Beautiful Cape Town. Santorini, undoubtedly would have to be the most beautiful city in the world that I have visited. Kolkata is home. The great cities of the world - Rome, London, New York all have their own appeal. But, if I have to choose one city that I would like to live in - it would have to be Cape Town, South Africa. CT, has astounding natural beauty - cradled by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, looked over by the Table Mountain. The city walls breathe history, albeit of a slightly sordid variety. The facilities are as good as any first world country. More importantly CT is Africa - the dark continent, still unexplored and brimming with potential and brimming with the mysterious unknown. The Cape Town City tour organised by Eagle, gave us a great overview of Cape Town and we pretty much fell in love with it.
The disadvantage of having the hotel slightly outside the city is the fact that the city tour invariably picks you up as the first guest very early in the day. The upside when the City Tour is that of Cape Town is the fact that it just gives you more time to experience the sights and sound as you pick up the other guests. The Cape Town city tour we undertook organised by Eagle Holidays gave us a really great view of Cape Town and we fell in love with the city.

The gang of guests on the bus was as eclectic as can be during the World Cup, a Chinese couple, two Thai honeymooners, a German couple, a slightly mad Portuguese couple who could bar

ely speak a word of English, a Brazilian woman and a Colombian lady. The last stop was at Camps Bay which is probably the most beautiful place one could buy a house with the Table Mou

ntain looking over the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, pure unadulterated natural beauty. The houses have been set up in steppes with the terraces of the lower houses serving as the porch/ garage of the house on top. Truly innovative allowing maximum people to enjoy the prime real estate.

The first stop of the city tour and the clear highlight was the Table Mountain. We were lucky that the weather was clear as the table mountain is closed in slightly dodgy weather conditions and the weather in Cape Town is known to change 4 times in a single day. For the nature enthusiast Table Mountain is a national part offering some unique flora and fauna that can only grow in the unique environment on the top on the mountain but I contented myself taking in the breathtaking views.

The other highlight of the city tour was a visit to the Cape Town Museum. The Cape Town Museum gives a great insight into the diversity of the South African nation and the many tribes and races that make up the country. We were interested to read up and see the distinct feature of the "Koi Saan" which is the tribe that Nelson Mandela's family comes from.

The diversity of the South African nation really stood out as we took in the tour of the museum. Starker was the fact tha

t given the blood and strife the country has gone through, the urgent need to protect each and every sub group. The South African anthem for example we were informed actually contains verses from 5 different languages representing the five major races

and very few South Africans can actually sing the whole song.

The city tour was rounded off with a visit to the Bo Kaap, Cape Towns Malay quarter with its typically multi coloured Malay Houses. The Malay influence in South Africa has also influenced the food in a big way with the spices playing a significant role in the South African kitchen.

The other place of cultural interest was the Castle of Good Hope which is the oldest colonial buidling in South Africa. It actually replaced an older fort called Fort de Goede Hoop which was made of clay and timber and built by Jan Van Reibeek on his arrival in 1652. At the rampart of the fort now flutters 6 flags of the South African nation in chronological order. The flags are the dutch prince's flag, the union jack, the dutch batavian flag again, the union jack again, the flag during the apartheid days followed by the current flag of the rainbow nation.

At the end of the city tour we were dropped off at V&A water front which was now representing a Colosseum swamped by English and Algerian fans. Chants of " 1-2-3 Viva Algerie!" were never ending and were answered in equal voice by the English " You are Shit! You are Shit! You are so Shit!". We took it all in over a most enjoyable Italian Lunch at San Marco. The lasagne I am sure

tasted better with the vibrant atmosphere created by the two sets of fans. The buzz in the air was also magnified by the good cheer in the English contingent who were seeing the Germans lose to Siberia. The cheer at Lucas Podolski's missed penalty was as if England had scored a goal and revealed the scars that the English carry over decades of footballing lessons at German hands.

We retreated to the hotel early that evening thinking about South Africa and taking in the boring 0 - 0 draw being played out at

Cape Towns spanking new Green Point stadium. I am definitely not an English sports supporter and quite enjoyed the fact that the Algerians fans were going to have the better evening!