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Sketches of Splurging in South Africa

Couture, Crafts and Culture on the Cape

By Carolyn Desalu

(page 1 of 6)

Described as “heaven at the tip of Africa,” Cape Town, South Africa is synonymous with gracious people, tantalizing local arts and mountaintops high enough to kiss the cloudless sky. Cape Town is also home to some of the world’s oldest archeological sites including vineyards that date back to the 17th Century and Cape Dutch style edifices designed with imperial, ornate gables that bear the cumulative influences of the Netherlands, Germany and France. Many vineyards and older government buildings in the Central Business District and on Long Street, a bohemian-esque boulevard popular for food, entertainment and shopping, are prime examples of Cape Dutch architecture.

Eclipsing even the stunning architecture and vineyards, Cape Town is home to the Nelson Mandela Gateway, the starting point to Robben Island. During the dark years of apartheid this notorious island prison once held former South African president and Nobel Prize winner Nelson Mandela, as well as anti-apartheid stalwarts including Robert Sobukwe and Walter Sisulu. The horrid social engineering and brutal segregation of apartheid ended in 1990 and today South Africa is considered the “Rainbow Nation,” a term that describes the country’s growing multi-cultural diversity.

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