Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town late on Tuesday, August 5th. We stayed in De Waterkant area in a very nice, three story townhouse with a roof deck where we had a wonderful view of Table Mountain. (seen here).

Marla & I went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and others were held as political prisoners in the 1960's, '70's and '80's. Our second guide was Eugene, a former political prisoner, who was arrested when he was protesting against the unequal education that blacks received. He shared stories of other prisoners asking him to read their letters and write letters as they were illiterate.

Our first guide showed us the quarry where prisoners including Nelson Mandela worked in the hot sun splitting rocks into gravel. The cave served as a class room in addition to a place of shade. Several years ago there was a reunion for political prisioners and Nelson Mandela was asked to demonstrate the labor of splitting rocks. As he left the quarry for the last time, Mandela picked up a rock and put it down at the entrance to the quarry. The other former prisioners followed his example and this pile stands as a memorial.











It was too overcast on the day we tried to take the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. It was the only day of our two weeks that the weather was somewhat inclement. A nice tourist took our photo! We left South Africa on 8/8/08 and returned home on 8/9/08. We had a wonderful time with our friends and loved South Africa. It's a beautiful country. Thanks for sharing our journey!