Cape town
South Africa’s ‘Mother City’, dominated by Table Mountain and surrounded by the wild Atlantic, has unquestionalbly one of the most beautiful city backdrops in the world. Despite being a considerable urban hub, its surroundings are surprisingly untamed, characterised by a mountainous spine stretching between two seaboards and edged by rugged coast and dramatic beaches.
Central Cape Town with its grandiose colonial buildings and beautiful public gardens crammed up against modern skyscrapers lies in the steep-sided bowl created by Table Mountain. Atmostpheric Victorian suburbs stretch around the lower slopes, while the Atlantic Seaboard with its promenade and dense crop of holiday flats and popular V&A Waterfront development hug the coast. Further out on Falst Bay are the Cape Flats, their sprawling townships a lasting testimony of the Apartheid era.
Cape Town’s popluation is most cosmopolitan in the country, with a mix of cultures, ethnicities and religions that drive the very pulse of the city. The mishmash of people including white descendants of Dutch and British setllers, a black African population and the distinctive “Cape Coloured” community, results in a vibrant cultural scene.
It is this mixture of environments and communities that make Cape Town such an instantly likeable and captivating city. Few places in the world can offer mountain hiking, lazing on a beach, tasting world-class wines and drinking beer in a township shebeen all in one day. Put simply, it is a city worth crossing the world for.
To get the best idea of Cape Town’s layout, head to the top of Table Mountain. From its summit, the city stretches below in a horseshoe formed by the mountains: Table Mountain is in the centre, with Devil’s Peak to the east and Lion’s Head and Signal Hill to the west. Straight ahead lies the City Bowl, the central business district backed by leafy suburbs. This is also the site of Cape Town’s historical heart and where all the major museums, historical buildings and sights are.
Following the coast around to the west, you come to the modern residential districts of Green Point and Sea Point which will soon be dominated by the enormous Green Point stadium currently being built for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. In the opposite direction the southern suburbs stretch west and south, dipping from the mountain’s slopes, and here, under a blanket of trees, are Cape Town’s largest mansions as well as beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
