Sights in Cape Town
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Simon’s Town Museum
Housed in the old governor’s residence (1777), the exhibits in this rambling museum trace Simon’s Town’s history. Included is a display on Just Nuisance, the Great Dane that was adopted as a navy mascot in WWII, and whose grave, off Red Hill Rd above the town, makes for a long walk from the harbour. There’s also a statue of Just Nuisance in Jubilee Sq, by the harbour.
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Africa Centre
For too long if you wanted to see the cream of African contemporary art you would most likely have to search for it outside of the continent. The Africa Centre, aims to change that. This initiative by the Enthoven family, which owns the wine estate Spier, has an ambitious agenda: to document, foster and celebrate the contemporary arts of Africa as well as African artists working in the diaspora.
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Nelson Mandela Gateway
Tours of Robben Island depart from the Nelson Mandela Gateway beside the Clock Tower at the Waterfront. Even if you don’t plan a visit to the island, it’s worth dropping by the museum here, with its focus on the struggle for equality. Also preserved as a small museum is the Waterfront’s Jetty 1, the departure point for Robben Island when it was a prison.
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World of Birds
Everything from barbets to weavers via flamingos and ostriches is found here among the 3000 different birds and small mammals covering some 400 different species. A real effort has been made to make the aviaries, which are South Africa’s largest, as natural-looking as possible with the use of lots of tropical landscaping. In the monkey jungle you can interact with the cheeky squirrel monkeys.
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Groote Kerk
The highlights of the mother church of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk; NG Kerk) are its mammoth organ and ornate Burmese teak pulpit, carved by master sculptors Anton Anreith and Jan Graaff. The building’s otherwise an architectural mishmash with parts dating from the 1704 original and other bits from 1841. While here ponder the fact that for the first 100 years or so of the church’s life, slaves were sold immediately outside.
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Iziko Koopmans de Wet House
Step back two centuries from 21st-century Cape Town when you enter this classic example of a Cape Dutch townhouse, furnished with 18th- and early-19th-century antiques. It’s an atmospheric place with ancient vines growing in the courtyard and floorboards that squeak just as they probably did during the times of Marie Koopmans-de Wet, the socialite owner after whom the house is named.
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Arderne Gardens
Planted by botanist Ralph Arderne in 1845, these shady gardens represent the oldest collection of trees in the southern hemisphere and include bamboo, fir, gum and enormous Morten Bay fig trees. It’s a lovely place to wander around for an afternoon, and is especially colourful on weekends when many Capetonian wedding parties arrive here to have their photos taken.
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Greatmore Studios
The pioneer of the Woodstock art scene, Greatmore Studios was set up in 1998 to provide studio space for local artists. Three of the 14 studios are reserved for visiting overseas artists with the idea of providing transfer of skills and cross-cultural stimulation of ideas and creativity. Visitors are welcome to stroll around the studios which include those of five resident artists.
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Planetarium
Attached to the South African Museum, the displays and star shows here unravel the mysteries of the southern hemisphere’s night sky. Call or check the website for times of daily shows using images caught by the Southern African Large Telescope in the Karoo (which has the largest aperture of any telescope in the world); there’s a kids’ show at noon daily.
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Natale Labia Museum
Call ahead to see whether anything is showing at this charming Venetian-style mansion, a satellite of the South African National Gallery. The house still belongs to the family of the Italian count Natale Labia who had it built in 1930 when it served as the Italian legation. The interiors are exquisite and even if it's closed the pretty exterior is worth a brief look.
reviewed
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Bertram House
A minor diversion if you’re at this end of the Company’s Gardens is to drop by the only surviving Georgian-style brick house in Cape Town, dating from the 1840s. Inside it’s decorated appropriately to its era with Regency-style furnishings and 19th-century English porcelain. At the time of research, however, it was closed for restoration.
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Michael Stevenson
This well-respected gallery celebrated its 5th birthday in 2008 by moving across town to be close by the Bell-Roberts gallery and Goodman Gallery Cape. Exhibitions have included the humorous, subversive work of Anton Kannemeyer, also known as Joe Dog, creator of the darkly satiric comic Bitterkomix with Conrad Botes, who is also represented by the gallery.
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Van Der Merwe Miszewski
Winning prizes for its work is architectural practice Van der Merwe Miszewski; its Tree House was voted best building in South Africa in an opinion poll organised by the South African Institute for Architects. The practice’s offices are based in one of the more unusual and beautiful of the City Bowl’s listed buildings.
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Imhoff Farm
There’s plenty to see and do at this historic and very attractive farmstead, just outside Kommetjie. Among the attractions are craft shops and studios, the good Blue Water Café, the Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group (KEAG), a snake and reptile park, a farmyard stocked with animals, and camel rides.
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Iziko Maritime Centre
This small museum, stocked with model ships, houses the John H Marsh Maritime Research Centre, a resource for those interested in South Africa’s maritime history. The main exhibition is about the ill-fated voyage of the Mendi, which sank in the English Channel in 1917 taking 607 black troops to a watery grave.
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Cape Point Ostrich Farm
There’s ostriches aplenty at this family-run farm and tourist complex just 600m from Cape Point’s main gate. Tours are conducted at regular intervals around the breeding facilities. The well-stocked shop is notable if for nothing else than the myriad artistic ways that ostrich eggs can be turned into decorative objects.
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Sacks Futeran Building
For many generations the Futeran family traded soft goods and textiles from these premises and before that part of the building was the Buitenkant Congregational Church. It now houses an annexe of the District Six Museum displaying the excellent Fields of Play exhibition on the history and development of soccer on the Cape. This temporary exhibition should be on display until and after the World Cup in 2010.
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South African National Gallery
This exquisite gallery in the Company's Gardens always has interesting exhibitions as well as permanent displays; check out the portrait of Desmond Tutu, the remarkable carved teak door in the courtyard, and a dinosaur sculpture made from wire. There's a good shop with some interesting books and a pleasant cafe.
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Robben Island
Despite recent problems, Robben Island justly remains one of Cape Town’s most popular attractions. Used as a prison from the early days of the VOC right up until 1996, this UN World Heritage Site is preserved as a memorial to those such as Nelson Mandela who spent many years incarcerated here.
While we heartily recommend going to Robben Island, a visit here is not without its drawbacks. The first hurdle is getting a ticket – in peak times these often sell out days in advance. Reserve well in advance via the web, and if you’re stuck, try booking a ticket in conjunction with a township tour – many tour operators have access to blocks of tickets not available to the…
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Noordhoek Beach
This magnificent 5km stretch of beach is favoured by surfers and horse riders. It tends to be windy, and dangerous for swimmers. The Hoek, as it is known to surfers, is an excellent right beach break at the northern end that can hold large waves (only at low tide); it's best with a southeasterly wind. In the middle of the beach, like a weird sculpture, the rusted shell of the steamship Kakapo sticks out of the sand. It ran aground here on its maiden voyage in 1900 from Britain to Australia.
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Cape Town Holocaust Centre
This small museum, in the same complex of buildings as the South African Jewish Museum, packs a lot in with a considerable emotional punch. The history of anti-Semitism is set in a South African context with parallels drawn to the local struggle for freedom.
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Green Point Lighthouse
Often mistakenly called Mouille Point Lighthouse, this red and white candy-striped beacon dates back to 1824 and is a striking landmark. You can take a self-guided tour inside, while outside on the grassy common beside the Mouille Point Promenade is a good kids’ playground.
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Kalk Bay Harbour
Kalk Bay’s attractive fishing harbour is at its most picturesque in the late morning when the community’s few remaining fishing boats pitch up with their daily catch and a lively quayside market ensues. This is an excellent place to buy fresh fish for a braai (barbecue) or to spot whales during the whale-watching season.
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Save Our Seas Shark Centre
This laudable education centre aims to encourage awareness, protection, conservation and the sustainable use of sharks worldwide. You can chat with marine biologists and scientists, and there’s a mini-aquarium and other good displays on the global organisation’s work.
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South African Planetarium
Attached to the South African Museum is the South African Planetarium. The displays and star shows here unravel the mysteries of the southern hemisphere's night sky. They also have Shows using images caught by the Southern African Large Telescope in the Karoo.
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