As one of the world’s fastest growing tourist destinations, Cape Town is regularly described in superlatives. Already listed as one of the top places in the world to see before you die, Cape Town is often portrayed as a ‘world-class’, cosmopolitan and ‘trendy’ city. But there is one word that is often left off that list, and that is old.

Amongst all the gleaming new hotels it’s easy to forget that Cape Town is South Africa’s oldest city, founded over 350 years ago by Jan van Riebeeck and his crew of Dutch settlers. In the intervening years the Cape has been through a multi-faceted and colourful history, all of which is just waiting to be explored in the centre of Cape Town.

Your first port of call should be the oldest building in the country, the Castle of Good Hope. Built in 1679 to replace the original mud and wood fort, the modest entrance fee is well worth the money.

The castle houses three interesting collections: The Military museum has an interesting display of uniforms and artefacts on the early conflicts that dogged the fledgling colony, while the Secunde’s House gives an excellent idea of upper-class furnishings and paintings of the time. The William Fehr collection is one of the country’s most important exhibits of art, furniture and porcelain.

Free tours of the castle take place three times a day and are useful to gain more of an insight into the history and role of the castle. Make sure that you don’t miss a visit to the castle dungeons and prison cells, complete with centuries old graffiti.

The Company's Garden
At the top of Adderley Street, alongside the tree-lined Government Avenue, you will find the Company’s Garden. Walking through the garden, few people realise that in some ways the garden is the very reason for Cape Town’s existence! Established soon after van Riebeeck’s arrival in 1652, the garden was planted to supply Dutch ships with fresh produce on the long journey between Holland and the East.

As the garden was run by imported slave labour, it eventually became too expensive to maintain and the task of growing vegetables was allocated to the free burghers (citizens) farming around the Cape peninsula. At the end of the 17th century the rows of vegetables were replaced with a botanical garden for the wealthy elite. It has remained an important botanical garden to this day, and is a welcome escape from the bustling city centre.

Heading back towards the city centre down Government Avenue you’ll come across the Slave Lodge, situated at the top of Adderley Street. Dating back to 1679, the Slave Lodge is the second oldest colonial building in the city and initially served as housing for the slaves of the Dutch East India Company. It was also the site of the Cape colony’s first post office, library and Supreme Court. The museum houses a wide range of artefacts from around the world, as well as a number of displays on the early peoples of the Cape. To find out more about life in the early days of the Cape colony, you could also pay a visit to Koopmans-de wet House in Strand Street, as well as Bertram House above the Gardens.

"Above Cape"
Pic: Iziko Museums
One of the most vibrant and colourful areas of the city centre is the Bo-Kaap (“above Cape”). Characterised by brightly-coloured 18th century Georgian terrace houses, the Bo-Kaap has a rich Muslim heritage, with many residents descended from the Indian and Asian slaves imported by the Dutch. The first stop when exploring this fascinating area should be the Bo-Kaap Museum at the top of Wale Street. Occupying the family house of Abu Bakr Effendi, a 19th century religious leader, the museum gives a fascinating insight into life in the area over the last 200 years. The museum also arranges walking tours through the district, which are run by local residents.

From the Bo-Kaap Museum it’s just down a short stroll down the hill to the historic Cape Heritage Hotel, the perfect place to base yourself during your stay in Cape Town.

Historic hotel
Overlooking the historic Bree (“wide”) Street, so called because of it’s extra breadth to allow ox-wagons to turn around, the Cape Heritage Hotel is undoubtedly one of Cape Town’s hidden secrets; a small slice of the 18th century in the midst of cosmopolitan Cape Town.

Dating back to 1771, the building has been modernised just enough to provide luxurious four-star accommodation, while keeping much of the original form that made it a prestigious home in the 18th century. After having been used as a private residence, machinery store and rope warehouse it was finally renovated to it’s current Georgian façade in the 19th century, and was a well-known boarding house throughout the late 1800’s.

Boasting 15 spacious rooms, the hotel exudes a sense of peace and serenity from the moment you step through the double front doors. High ceilings and discreet air-conditioning help to create a cool calm atmosphere in perfect contrast to the sweltering, boisterous streets of Cape Town in summer.

The suite rooms are suitably enormous, with a giant four-poster bed swathed in white linen taking pride of place. Period furniture, including an enormous wardrobe, add to the illusion of stepping back into a gentler, more luxurious era. The bedroom leads onto a small separate lounge, the perfect spot to plan your next day’s exploration, and the en-suite bathroom.

Window to the past
A look into the history of the hotel is made all the easier thanks to some rather clever renovations, with a small section of a few of the walls scraped away to expose the original paint — as simple as it may sound, it is quite fascinating to be able to look back through 250 years of history and imagine how different the view from the large sash windows must have been back then.

Being centrally located, the hotel is just a short walk away from some of the city’s finest restaurants, and even shares a courtyard with two of Cape Town’s hippest eateries, Moja (“global fusion”) and Strega (“urban Italian”). If you’re looking for something closer-to-home, the world-famous Africa Café is just around the corner, offering a gastronomic trip through Africa from Moroccan chicken to Malawian mbatata balls.

Although the centre of Cape Town is often celebrated as “innovative”, “trendy” and “up-and-coming”, it’s worth taking some time to explore the city’s hidden past, evocatively brought to life in the buildings and gardens of South Africa’s oldest city.


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