Cape Town, Day 2

Ok! Ready for Cape Town, Day 2?

We started our day at the V & A Waterfront, which is basically a big mall. In fact, it seemed to be many different types of malls all together. There are also lots of boats. Today was another gorgeous sunny day, but this time, it was warm! I guess the Southeaster has mostly blown through.

V & A waterfront. We were able to buy a $15 bottle of sunscreen here.

From the waterfront, you can catch a boat over to Robben Island. Robben Island has been used for a log time for many things. Back in the day, it was a leper colony, then it was a military base. It's about 13 km from Cape Town. Here is looking towards Cape Town from the island. If I haven't mentioned it yet, that is Table Mountain. The city of Cape Town is at the base of the mountain.

Most recently, it was used as a prison for political prisoners who were active against ending apartheid. It's crazy to think that the country was still fighting apartheid into the 1990's!! One of the most famous prisioners was Nelson Mandela. He was convicted in 1964 for high treason and didn't get out until 1982, when he was transferred to another prison for 9 more years or something.

Here was his cell:

All the political prisoners had to do hard labor by working in this lime quarry. I guess that pile of stones at the mouth of the quarry was from when Nelson Mandela came back after he became president of South Africa to again denounce apartheid and the conversion of the prison to a museum. The rock pile symbolizes reconciliation. Powerful stuff, you guys.

This was our guide, Benjamin. He and all the guides are former political prisoners here. He served 11 years for high treason. I can't believe they all come back here to lead tours around where they were imprisoned, but he said sharing his story helps him heal. He was missing a fingertip.

After Robben Island, we decided to go to the top of Table Mountain. It's been closed a lot lately because of the high winds but was open today! You ride a cable car up to the top and hang out up there. There is a restaurant so you can get something to eat and enjoy the view. We didn't get up there until around 5:45, so we got to watch the sun setting.

Cape Town from the top:

Setting sun. Not us in the picture, but it could be!

And that's it! Looking forward to tomorrow...