Tour of Cape Town City Centre

The Castle of Good Hope

The Castle of Good Hope has been the centre of life at the Cape since its inception in January 1666. The gateway – built in 1682 – replaced the old entrance, which faced the sea.

Protecting its interests against the British and French would obviously require soldiers and therefore a military presence. These soldiers served the Dutch East Indian Company and were remunerated for their services. Built by soldiers, sailors and slaves, the walls were clad in local stone.

The Castle of Good Hope was a welcome sight for sailors traveling up to six months at sea and referring to Cape Town as the "Tavern of the Seas".

Slave Lodge

The Slave Lodge was built in 1679 as the slave lodge of the Dutch East India Company.  It is believed that up to 9000 slaves, convicts and the mentally ill lived in the building between 1679 and 1811. The Iziko website The Heritage of Slavery in South Africa gives details of the slave period in the history of the building.

The Slave Lodge, then known as the SA Cultural History Museum, opened its door as a museum on 6 April 1966. The SA Cultural History Museum, originally a division of the SA Museum, became an autonomous museum in 1969.  In 1998 the building was renamed the Slave Lodge. In 2000, the museum and its associated sites amalgamated with its parent body as well as the SA National Gallery, the William Fehr Collection and the Michaelis Collection to form Iziko Museums of Cape Town

Please note the slave lodge is closed Sundays, Workers Day, Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Company Gardens

The Company's Garden is one of the city's premier tourist attractions - a green jewel in the heart of a vibrant, bustling metropolis that is the remaining half of a fresh produce garden planted in the 1650s by the region's first European settlers to service and re-provision spice-trading sailing ships on the long sea route to the east.

Cape Town's earliest records show that the Garden was originally divided into rectangular fields protected by high trimmed myrtle windbreaks, and watered via a system of open irrigation furrows fed by the area's numerous mountain streams. The design was typical Dutch agricultural practice of the time, apart from the furrows, which had been adapted to suit the region's topography and weather.

The tour includes transport to and from your hotel or guest-house, all entrance fees and a cup of tea in the gardens. This half day tour can take place either in the morning or afternoon

Price

R359 per person. Based on a minimum of 2 people.