We arrived in Cape Town (Kaapstad in Afrikaans) late Monday afternoon, May 8, and found accommodation at the Mountain Manor Backpacker's Lodge near the city center. We had a great meal at a restaurant called Mama Africa, which appeared, from the number and appearance of the other diners, to be a hot spot for the young and hip. This description does not fit us, but the burly doorman let us come in and spend money anyway.

The next day we took a very scenic drive from Cape Town to some of the other communities on the peninsula, including Houts Bay, Camp Bay, Simonstown (which still functions as an active naval base), and an ocean drive along Chapman's Peak to reach a famous colony of African penguins on Boulder Beach.



On Wednesday, May 10, we rode a ferry from the Cape Town waterfront through 13k of the Atlantic Ocean (Cape Town is bordered by both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans) to Robben Island, once a notorious prison for political (primarily anti-apartheid) detainees. Since the release of the prisoners in 1991, the official end of apartheid, and the change in the South African government and constitution to make all citizens equal, Robben Island has become a museum. The tour guides for visitors to the island are the former prisoners. The trip on the ferry and the guided tour take about four hours.

We returned to the lodge, rested a little, then after a seafood dinner back at the waterfront (which has a huge shopping complex called the Victoria and Albert Mall) we saw a British-made movie called "Mum's the Word." It was very entertaining.

Thursday, May 11. We walked from the lodge through the museum district of the downtown area, stopping at the District Six museum because our Robben Island tour guide had mentioned it yesterday, and at the Anglican Cathedral of St. George the Martyr, which is the home church of Archibishop Desmond Tutu, a famous anti-apartheid activist. He is now retired as the Archibishop of Cape Town, and is a speaker in demand worldwide. In the evening we met for drinks at the waterfront with Randy Berry, an American employee of the U.S. Consulate in Cape Town and a former schoolmate of our neighbors in Maryville, Darren and Amy Vorderbruegge. Tomorrow we will be off to drive north through the RSA on our way to Namibia.