The sea has been pretty calm this weekend; I didn't go on a road trip. Instead, I went on an adventure through most of the museums in Cape Town. Since this IS a travel log, here I'm going to give a little review of each. Here we go, in alphabetical order:
Bo-Kaap Museum
The Bo-Kaap Museum is situated in the middle of the Muslim community in Cape Town, distinguished by its colourful houses. The museum itself has four rooms, but visitors could visit the Muslim community center attached to it. The museum gives a basic history of the Muslim community in Cape Town with a focus in the 60s under apartheid regime. There are many Islamic items on-display from that era. For regular visitors, 30 minutes should be enough to go through the museum. As for the community center, it contains a display of dominantly the Islamic religion and how it contributed to the world. You'll find hundreds of poster-like displays that touches on the teachings of Qu'ran and Islamic history in Cape Town. The community center should take no more than 40 minutes, based on your level of interest in Muslim. I got into a deep conversation with the director there and met two Canadians, so I spent over an hour there.
The Castle (many museums inside)
The Castle is the first fort built in Cape Town. The construction began in 1666 and was completed in 16xx by the Dutch East India Company, the richest and most powerful private company in the world. In fact, it was so powerful that it has its own army and vessel fleet. Without giving too much details of the museum, the fort contains several internal museums. There you can learn about the military and colonial history of Cape Town, new year festivities, and the history of the fort itself. Besides the museums, you can run around the in fort, explore the dark dungeons and climb to the top of the exterior walls. Inside the fort, lot of rooms are open to public, including the torture chamber. With about 2 hours, you can have a thorough visit of the Castle.
District Six Museum
If you visit Cape Town, this is the must-go place. Cape Town went through a very dark period in contemporary history. Yes, I'm talking about the apartheid. The District Six museum is located at District Six, not too far from the Castle. In the 60s, the District Six is a lively suburb where blacks, coloured, and small number of white, all lived... until the apartheid government decided to "clear out" the land for whites-only. Within weeks all families in that area were forced to move out; Ray, my driver, his family is one of them. Soon the operation began, the entire suburb was razed to flat ground. The area is then made open only to the whites. For the blacks and coloured, they must obtain and carry a passport to enter or just simply passing by District Six. One who is caught without a passport would be arrested immediately. As the local says it the best, "it's like having a VISA to walk around your own country".
The museum itself is not very big. In fact you may have some difficulties finding the place. Once you do find it, you enter a bright room with two-story high ceilings. In the middle of the main floor, there's a map of District Six which its original streets. Many people marked the spot where their families had once lived. 45 Aspeling, that was where Ray grew up. If you were to read every single caption beneath photos and every story written, it'd take you at least 6 hours. I spent 2 hours there.
Gold Museum
This is a fancy museum located on Strand St. The most of the museum is decorated in black and gold, which gives visitors a luxurious feeling. To begin your tour, you'll head upstairs to second floor. Once there you'll be flattered by the hundreds of gold jewelries on display. Most of items are made and found in Africa. The collection includes King's crown, staff, bracelets, and many other gold decorations from different time periods. I'm sure you'll be amazed by the delicate craftsmanship and the amount of wealth Africa has had before Europeans arrived. Also on the second floor there is a very cool display room that mapped the entire human civilization, starting from Adam and Eve. The entire tour should take you around an hour.
Planetarium
Not much to see here, it's like a movie theatre that show scientific documentaries. I know some people who would love this place.
Robben Island Museum
Robben Island is the little island 10km off the coast of Cape Town. Completely isolated, it serves as the Alcatraz of South Africa. So, Robben Island was used as a place of isolation. At one point, it was a lepers village, and later instituted a maximum-security prison. Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years on Robben Island. The tour of the island includes a 30 min ferry boat ride to the Island (and back), a drive around the island, and a tour of the prison conducted by an ex-inmate. More about the last part in another log. The entire trip takes 3 hours long.
South African Cultural and Natural History Museum
Huge. The SA museum is huge. You can learn a lot about South Africa and nature here. The first floor through the entrance is about the cultural part of South Africa. You can find many displays of early African civilization including cave arts and artifacts from a million years ago. As you go further up, you learn about all the animals and the rocks. The animals are divided into fish, mammals, and insects. On the second floor, there was a very nice display of award winning photos from a photo contest; I spent quite some times studying the pictures. The entire museum would take half a day to finish; I spent a good 4 hours there (that included a 30 min nap while watching a video on whales)
Slave Lodge
The museum is converted from a former slave lodge. The first part of the museum contains a lot of information on the history of slavery in Cape Town; the second part is about the symbol of South Africa: Nelson Mandela. Like many American and European cities, Cape Town is built on slavery. Back in the days, the Dutch and the English "employed" huge numbers of African slaves to work on wineries, farms, factories, and shops. The slaves provided the economic base of Cape Town. Over the decades, the changing-time brought an end to the dark days of slavery, however, much injustice remained for another century. The museum takes you through the entire period with descriptions, pictures, and artifacts. The second part of museum about Nelson Mandela takes you through the defining moments in his life. The information is organized on large banners that are easy to follow. You'll need 2 hours for this one.
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