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Cape Town
Somerset West

The National Anthem

Arno Jene
Copyright © 2003
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Cape Town

The oldest City in South Africa, it's also called "The Mother City". Surrounded by two oceans, pleased by the sun and sheltered by the Table Mountain, the Devil's Peak and Lions Head and Signal Hill. This booming city is international known as "The Nicest End of the World" and as "The Tavern of the Seas". Kaapstad (the name in Afrikaans for Cape Town) was founded by Jan van Riebeeck on 6th of April 1652. It was designed as an intermediated station for the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company (in these times the socalled "Jan company"; it's english rival was called "John company") heading for "the East". Since that time this little settlement has grown up to one of the most important centres of Africa. The metropolis ranges over wide parts of the plane between the two oceans and the whole peninsula from Bloubergstrand in the north and Kraaifontein in the east to "Cape of Good Hope", the " South-westernmost Point" of the continent of Africa in the south. (The southernmost point of Africa is some hundred kilometres to the east -Cape L'Agulhas, the Needle cape). The city covers over 200,000 hectares and at the moment almost more than 3 or 4 million people live in it (the squatters are nearly uncountable even if the new government is trying hard to raise the comfort in these areas).

Cape Town is the magnet at the southern tip of Africa. All of the south african people would really like to live there. The capetonians take life really easy. The mood is more tolerant and open to all kind of thinking and behaviour. A workaholic from Jo'burg will call Cape Town a lazy city, but would nevertheless like to live there or at minimum like to spend there the holiday period. Well, many of them do this. During December and January are the holidays in school and the city and the beaches get then really crowded by all those people from the northern provinces. Even if Cape Town has many and a wide variety of accommodations you will find it difficult to get a not so expensive one.

The metropolis sets the pace for the modern Africa, even if the bid for the 2004 Olympic games failed this time because of whatsoever. They soccer world championship 2010 is just round the corner. Try to book your accomodation as soon as possible. Offshore of Cape Town Nelson Mandela (called Madeba) has been prisoned on Robben Island for most of his 28-year long imprisonment. This prison island has now become a national monument and a museum highly frequented by tourists. It is necessary to book in advance!

file: africa/southafrica/Kapstadt last updated 30th of May 2003