| There is so much to do and see in Cape Town that the first-time visitor will find it difficult to fit everything in. Nevertheless, the city centre itself is small and compact, and easy and pleasant to navigate on foot. Table Mountain watches over the proceedings, providing not only a beautiful backdrop but also a handy point of orientation, which makes getting lost quite difficult. There is an amazing variety of architectural styles, including Cape Dutch, Victorian and Edwardian buildings wedged in between modern skyscrapers. The Foreshore’s V&A Waterfront is a stunning example of urban regeneration, where old-style harbour warehouses and buildings have been transformed into beautiful shopping centres, luxury hotels and a multitude of restaurants. Spreading west toward Signal Hill is the Bo-Kaap (Top Cape) area, also known as the Malay Quarter (Malay is a misnomer for Cape Muslims of Asian descent). This area was home to the freed slaves – their descendants resisted all attempts at removal by the apartheid authorities and were much more successful than the District Six (now Zonnebloem) inhabitants, whose homes were bulldozed, following then Prime Minister Verwoerd’s enforcement of racial segregation laws. Offshore, north of Table Bay, lies Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela and many of the other current top political leaders of South Africa were gaoled by the apartheid regime. |