April 8, 2024 Cape Town, South Africa, Day 27 left of 138

 Cape Town, South Africa, the city that we almost missed. We woke up to a windy day, and the ship sitting outside of the city. There were a couple of announcements regarding our attempt to enter the port. The port was closed to all ships entering or leaving due to the strong winds. Our excursions were to be an hour late, then it was announced that they would let us know if and when we were able to proceed. Lucky for us, and the people we were meeting here to get back on the ship. We finely made it in almost 4 hours late, so the long excursions were cancelled, and all the times were changed for all others. They needed to find places for all the people without excursions. Viking did a great job making it work.

Now for a weather report. The wind is whipping like you would not believe with gusts of 45 mph. The temperature was 62 degrees, and rain is predicted. Most people were dressed appropriately.

This was a picture that showed up on the ship. We thought it was appropriate and beautiful.

While we were waiting to enter the port it was announced that we had Dolphins and Seals off the Port side, or our side of the ship. Mike took the first picture and another guest posted the second picture of two Dolphins. It was fun seeing them playing in the waves.

Our sunrise was late, while we had to wait for it to appear above the layer of clouds.

Below is what Table Rock looked like during our visit. We were told this is the way it usually appears, and getting to see it on a clear day is rare.

They call the clouds the tablecloth. LOL

This is our view as we left the port. The smaller hill on the left is Lion's Head, and the one on the right is Signal Hill.

Once again several blocks have been added to the city by filling in the shallow part of the harbor. They realized they needed a deep port, so they have filled the area in and built the city to the waters edge.

This is Jan and Maria De La Queillerie. He in the 1600 brought his pregnant wife to Cape Town to be the first Dutch Colonial administrator and first commander. She thought coming pregnant would allow them to be given the best residence, but someone else arriving earlier took that privilege. 

The Dutch when they arrived built the Dutch Reform Church, and that was the only religion allowed during their rule

There were multiple tiled scenes on the side of a building. This picture represented them all the best. We were not told the story, but you can see it represented the early settlement of the city.

There was a flower and vegetable markets that we drove past. Flowers seem to  be very important, even more important than what we see in the states. You see many people carrying their flowers home.

Cape Town has its homeless problem, but notice how everything is buttoned up to protect from blowing away. We were told that Covid increased the problem as people were moving to Cape Town from outlying areas to receive services during the countries lock down. They have 55,000 homeless people. A law was passed that said they could not force these people out unless they had someplace for them to go. Out side of the city, large shanty towns have been set up with simple homes for them. They have no inside plumbing, but they all have satellite dishes, and cell phones. They have porta potties set up throughout the camp. Our friends who went past one out by the airport, says it goes on for ever. They say people wait up to 7 years to move out to other Government housing. It is a problem everywhere.

This is the Fort de Goede Hoop (Fort of Good Hope) it was the first military building to be erected in Cape Town. It was built in 1652 and used until 1674 when it was superseded by the Castle of Good Hope.

This is a statue of Nelson Mandela. He stood on this spot when he accepted the Presidency of South Africa. He would frequently speak to the people from here. Our guide spoke highly of him, but not so highly of his party that have continued to be in the majority for the last 30 years. They will be voting the end of May, and our guide felt that there would not be a majority this time, which means the country will be under a co-op rule. They hope things improve.

We were driving around the city. Above is the oldest bank, it is now closed, because no one goes to banks anymore, and will become a Hotel. You can see both the Dutch and English architecture around the city.

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This is Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Church. The steps and gathering area are all private property, so they would gather for their protests here, and that continues today every Wednesday. Our guide said the protests are pro Israel, but the signs we saw and her words left us wondering really which way the protesters lean.

Below is a piece of the Berlin Wall. They put this up, as they felt they went through the same thing with Apartheid.

 This is the front of Parliament. If you see the height of the fence 

has been extended after an arson fire over 2 years ago. The fire started the day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu died. There are some who think he went to heaven and sent down a lightening to start the fire in protest to the way the Parliament is being run. You have to look in the back to see where the damage was. The person has been caught, but he is in and out of the courts trying to figure out if he is sane enough to stand trial. He readily confesses to starting the fire. The odd thing is, the night of the fire, the security cameras failed, the fire suppression system failed, and the fence didn't prevent someone access to the building.

If you belong to Parliament you spend 6 months in Cape Town, and 6 months in Pretoria, as South Africa has 3 capitals, Cape Town is the legislative capital, Pretoria the administrative capital and Bloemfontein is the Judicial capital. Confusing, but they are making it work.

The next stop is known as Company's Garden. The company was the Dutch East India Company. Its purpose was to grow vegetable and fruit gardens planted by settlers to provide refreshment station for ships traveling between Europe and the East Indies. The Dutch and the English figured out that to prevent scurvy the ships needed to reprovision the ships with fresh fruit and vegetables. 

This is the oldest tree in the garden and is believed to have come from Holland in the 1600's. It is thought that the main trunk succumbed to old age many years ago and that the four existing stems then arose as suckers. In 1980 they removed the old rotten wood from the main trunk to prolong the life of the tree. Certain branches were braced and bolted together using cables. 

Despite the tree's age edible fruit appear every autumn.

This is a statue of Cecil John Rhodes. Rhodes came to South Africa to farm with his brother. He was not a farmer, but had a good business sense. He promoted the elitism of the white race, his own colonial conquests from Cape to Cairo, and how the land in the Cape should be distributed, to whom and by whom.

He made his money in mining diamonds. He founded De Beers Consolidated Mines which mined 90% of the worlds diamonds.

There was a statue of Rhodes at a South Africa university, but the students removed it. One of the gardeners tried to vandalize or remove this statue near the same time. One of our speakers says his statues have been removed in the UK, even on campuses his money was used to build the university.

This bell is from the first fire station.  The rate of ringing indicated whether the fire was increasing or abating by ringing quickly or slowly.

I believe this is a Hadeda bird. If you know something different let me know.

This was a very different building that is a book depositary. They make sure that school children receive school books in their own language. Africa has 11 local tribe languages. English is not one of the main languages they learn here.

I was checking out the pictures, and you can see the clouds, but the wind and rain is not evident. This picture at least shows that I was protecting myself from the rain. People wearing hats were chasing them on every street. The people using umbrellas were fighting them as the wind was so strong. I figured we would see at least one umbrella turned inside out, but they held on and the umbrellas did not break.

This was a war memorial on one side of the park. The fenced off area is where they are going to build a WWI memorial.

The beaches were beautiful, but this was not a beach day. They also did not recommend swimming at this beach due to the deep drop off close to the beach and the sever undertow.

Our last stop was added in place of shopping. We were taken to the Beach club for sparkling wine, South African version of champagne. Local music was provided, and it was much better, rather than trying to move from store to store in this storm.

I saw this picture that I missed this morning, and I believe it looks much better lite up. It was a perfect ending to the night.